Better For You
by Anadi
Summary: AU Seth and Summer are 26 and living together. Seth is trying to save Summer from the issues that surround her and are slowly breaking them apart.
1. I need you to hold me

Disclamer: I don't own anything related to the O.C.

A/N: So after a lot of debating with myself I finally decided to write something and post it. The whole idea came to me in a dream I had a while ago, which I know sounds weird but that is how it happened. Some of you may be confused with what is going on with Summer, but that is the idea, and everything will clear up in the future chapters.

He was trying to finish the third chapter of his book, but he was kind of stuck in the plotline. He had way too much stuff in his mind. That was a lie, because he only ever had two things on his mind, the first and most important one being Summer, and the other one the current book he was writing. He knew he had a deadline to meet, but how could he concentrate when Summer wasn't home yet. He had tried to call her cell about twenty times, leaving more than six voicemails and still no word from her.

She was supposed to come home at six, six thirty if the traffic was bad, and now it was way past one in the morning. He was starting to regret not going to look for her, but the more he thought about it, he could picture her coming home and finding it empty, which would only make everything worse. The last time she had come home late and had not found him there she had freaked out and disappeared for two days straight. After she came back, Seth had asked her where she had been. She only responded with hysterical crying and grabbed onto him like he would disappear if she let go. Two hours later when she had calmed down a bit, she made him promise he would always be there when she came back home. He had immediately promised he would, because there really wasn't anything he would do or at least try to do to make her happy.

Just when the tears had started falling down his face, he heard the front door open. He thanked God for bringing her home and then tried to gather himself a little because one of the things Summer hated was seeing him cry, that and have him worry about her. He would always tell her he worried because he loved her, and she would answer with a smile and telling him he was being silly.

When she didn't come into his office he figured he should go see her. He entered their room and saw that she was in the bathroom so he decided to wait for her to come out. When she finally came out he was sitting on the edge of their bed, she looked him straight in the eyes, gave him a hint of a smile and then gave him a quick peck on the lips. "Hey I thought you had fallen asleep in your office again" she said.

The first thing Seth noticed was that she had been crying, but he figured she was just going to pretend everything was fine so he said "I called you".

She sat beside him and said "yeah I know, I just needed to get away for a while".

"I get that Summer, you know I do, but all I'm asking is for you to call me so I know that you're okay and not lying dead in the middle of nowhere."

"God do you have to be so blunt?!"

"Do you have to pretend that everything is just fine?"

"No I don't, I mean I'm not! You know I'm not okay!" She couldn't help but raise her voice. She hated when Seth got like that. He was supposed to be the calm one, and she was supposed to be the emotional wreck.

"Of course I know you're not okay, but I don't think you do. You've obviously being crying, but you just waltz in here pretending like it is okay for you to come at one in the morning and that I just won't notice that you have probably being crying since you got out from work."

And that was when she got the look in her eye that told him she was done with the argument, she was closing up once again, and she wouldn't say anything more.

"I'm going to bed" and with that she got under the covers and turned her back to him.

"Fine if you won't talk to me, then I'm going to sleep on the couch".

When he was turning the door knob he thought she heard him say "Please don't". He turned around and went to her side of the bed. She looked up to him with tears in her eyes and said "stay with me, I need you to hold me."

He couldn't help but remember those were the first words she had said to him when they first met "I need you". That had definitely been a completely different situation, one that he could never imagine turning out like this.

Two years before….

He was walking through the aisles of the bookstore; he was trying to find his recently published book. Someone had told him they were selling it here, but so far he wasn't having any luck finding it. He also wasn't willing to go up to the employees and just casually ask them if they had Seth Cohen's new book. After all his picture was on the back of the book, and he wouldn't be caught death looking for his own book. That for him was way too embarrassing. He still couldn't believe that someone had actually agreed to publish his book. Even if his books always got great reviews, he still didn't believe they were good enough. But he had to admit he did enjoy seeing them in bookstore shelves.

He was passing another section and still his book was nowhere to be found when out of the corner of his eye he saw her sitting on the carpeted floor with a bunch of books around her. He couldn't help but stare at her. She looked almost childlike with everything around her and trying to pick out a book. And then he realized he had probably being staring at her for more than two minutes so he decided to resume the quest of his book. Just when he started walking away she looked up at him and said "hey I need you".

He almost thought that one of the bookstore employees was behind him, but then she smiled and said "will you help me?". He would later tell her that that smile was what made him fall in love with her in the first place. He walked over to her and said "I don't work here".

"Well that is why I called you in the first place, and since I just let you stare at me for more than five minutes, I guess the least you can give me is some assistance".

"It wasn't five minutes, and do you charge all people who stare at you?" He said with a grin.

Summer would later tell him that his ability to keep up with her was the first thing that made her like him. "No, in fact I don't but you I am charging".

He put out his hand and said "What can I do for you? And your name is….?"

She shook his hand and said "Summer, my name is Summer and you are…?"

"Seth Cohen".

"Well Seth, I kind of need you to help me pick one of these five books to read. See I love reading, but the part where I choose the book has always being an issue to me."

"Don't you want me to get you one of the employees, I mean they probably know which one is better than I do."

"Are you trying to get rid of me?" she said with her smile once again.

"No, not at all, I just think they are actually trained for this way more than I'll ever be."

"That is exactly why I called you. I don't like bookstore employees they are always giving me technicalities when all I really want to know is which book seems more entertaining. So will you please just read the back of these five books and tell me which one do you think is better. And thank God you didn't pass this aisle an hour ago, because you would have seen me with twenty more books around me. I have now narrowed them down to five. Now all you have to do is choose one among these five."

"You have been here more than an hour?"

"Like I said I have trouble with the choosing part."

Seth sat down beside her and started looking through the books. When he got to the third one he realized it was his new book. He immediately put it back in the bookshelf and said "Definitely not that one".

She grabbed it back. "Hey I was actually leaning towards this one, I have read a book about this author before, but I'm terrible with names. Let me see his name is…" And that is when she realized it was the guy sitting in front of her. "You wrote this?"

"The picture kind of gives it away, doesn't it?" He smiled.

"Why would you try to hide it? I read your last book, and I loved it 'My Girl Alba'."

"Thanks, that is really kind of you. This one is actually the sequel 'Holding on', but I'm not so sure about it."

"Then I'll be the judge of that." She picked up the book and said "Walk me to the register?"

He got up too and followed her, but then he realized the mess they had left on the floor. "Aren't we supposed to pick that up?"

"One of those employees you were so desperate to get me will pick them up for us." She continued walking.

She paid for the book and they both walked outside.

"It was nice to meet you Summer and I apologize beforehand for you not liking my book."

"Stop being so modest, you know what let's make a deal, give me your number and I'll call you when I've read at least two chapters. Then we can go out for coffee and I can tell you what I think about it."

"Great excuse Summer, you could have just asked me out on a date."

"Yeah Cohen that is exactly it" She said sarcastically. "If there is something you should know about me is that if I want something I'll just say it and what I'm saying know is that I want to have coffee with you to discuss your book and that is it."

"Sorry" He said kind of embarrassed and gave her his number on a card.

"Don't worry about it, you'll learn as you go. I kind of have to go now so I'll call you. Goodbye Seth."

"Bye Summer". He just stood there for a while and then said to himself "what that hell did just happen?" He decided to trust Summer and learn about this girl that had just charmed him as he went.

Today…

He climbed into bed and grabbed both of her hands in his own and hugged her from behind. He then laid a kiss on her neck and said "I love you."

She gave him her usual response of "I know".

When he thought she had fallen sleep she surprised him by murmuring "I promise everything will be better tomorrow."

He just hugged her tighter to himself and hoped what she was saying was true.


	2. Someday you'll know

Disclaimer: The O.C. is definitely not mine.

A/N: I put the flashback in italics this time. I meant to do it the first time but I forgot. I hope you'll enjoy this chapter and thank you for the reviews.

"Hey babe" "Sweetie" She was gently nudging his side to try to wake him up. "My boy Seth" she singsang. Just then he opened his eyes and looked at her with a surprised expression on his face.

"It's about time you woke up. I've been trying to get you to wake up for about ten minutes. Here's your coffee, I have to go, I'm already late but I really wanted to say goodbye." She handed him the cup and got up, but Seth caught her arm before she went too far. He sat her down on the bed, him sitting up too while putting his mug on the bedside table and mumbling thanks. He then pulled her to him and gave her a longing kiss feeling just a little relieved with her seemingly good mood.

"How are you?" He asked her, his concern immediately coming back.

"I think I'm having a good day, and I'm sorry about yesterday you know how much I hate to make you worry."

"Yeah I know just promise me you'll call if this happens again, because even if you don't want me to worry I really can't help it when you don't come home."

"Seth don't make me promise something you know I can't always keep."

"Then promise me you'll at least try." He grabbed her hand trying to get her to understand where he was coming from and with his other hand tried to get her to look at him.

She just stared at their hands locked together and after a minute she looked at him "You always get your way with me." She said with a smile trying to ease the situation a bit. After she saw that he wasn't having any of it she said "Okay I promise I'll try." She figured that would make him happy at most for the moment being.

She took her hand away from his clasp and looked at her watch. "It's way past eight, I really have to go now." She got up and walked to the door, but before she could notice it he was standing beside her grabbing her arm again. "What is it now Seth? I told you I'm already late". She kind of snapped.

The last thing he wanted was to make her mad but he felt like he had to say something after what had happened last night. "I know I'm sorry, but we have to talk about everything that's being going on lately. Tonight at dinner maybe?" He said hopefully.

"There's nothing to talk about Seth, but I'll tell you what we can have dinner and talk about your book when I'm home from work. How's that going anyway?"

"It is not going actually, and please don't try to change the subject. Something is not right with my girl, and we definitely need to talk about it so we can figure everything out. Together." He said using his favorite nickname for her. She secretly loved it too. It was the way it was supposed to be, at least for now she was his girl and he was her boy.

She put her hands behind his neck and brought her body closer to his. Seth been as in love with her as he was couldn't help but put his own on the small of her back. "I'm fine okay. Today I'm fine." She then gave him a kiss that almost made him believe everything was all right, even if everything in his heart told him it wasn't.

She pulled away from him and started walking away. "I seriously need to leave right now, and I expect you to have at least four chapters of your book so we can read it together when I get back." They always read his stuff together since she was his favorite critic. Seth really loved listening to whatever she had to say about his writing, he had ever since the beginning of their relationship. He often found himself changing something in his writing just because she had suggest it, or sometimes just because he thought she would like it better.

"You can't keep avoiding it Summer." He yelled so she could hear him because she had almost reached the door.

She stopped and turned around. "I'm not avoiding anything seeing as there is no 'It' to begin with. And pleeease stop worrying." She started walking again.

"I worry because I love you."

She turned around again and gave him his favorite smile, the one that actually looked genuine. "I know silly" and with that she turned around once again and closed the door behind her.

He once more felt like she really wasn't with him even if she slept next to him every night.

_He was walking through the busy streets and passed the bookstore where he had met her. He had thought about her a lot since their first meeting, and he felt like he had lost the opportunity to get to know her. It had been more than a month, and he still hadn't heard anything from her. He kept thinking "I should have asked her for her number too. Maybe she didn't like my book, or maybe it really is as bad as I think it is. Maybe she won't call me because she doesn't want to tell me how terrible she thought my book was. She really seemed like a great girl and on top of that she was gorgeous." He stopped the rambling in his head and after a second said "I really need to get myself a date so I can get Summer out of my mind."_

_Two hours later he was watching a movie while having some takeout in his living room when his cell phone rang. "Hello"_

"_Hey Seth it's me Summer remember from the bookstore?" He couldn't help the smile that spread over his face when he heard her voice._

"_Hey Summer it's great to hear from you, I was just thinking about you this morning." He immediately regretted saying that because well it sounded a little creepy. He didn't want her to know that he had been thinking about her constantly._

"_Really you were?" She sounded surprised and Seth thought he almost heard a hint of happiness in her voice. "You didn't think I forgot about your book and my offer of giving you my review or did you?"_

"_Well yeah I kind of did." He admitted._

"_Now you know I didn't and I'm free now. Can you meet me in half an hour or are you busy right now?"_

"_No, I'm free where do you want to meet?"_

"_I'll see you in Café Noir in half an hour."_

"_Great I'll see you there." And with that they both hung up their cell phones._

_Half an hour later they were both sitting at a table outside the café._

"_So Summer are you going to put me out of my misery and just tell me what you thought about my book?" He really hoped she had liked it, or he would be seriously disappointed. He wasn't sure why, but he suddenly felt like the opinion of this girl mattered more than what any reviewer could have ever said about one of his books._

"_As surprised as you might be I loved it."_

"_Really?" He said with a huge smile on his face._

"_Yeah I think it is a great continuation to 'My Girl Alba'. But hey I'm kind of mad at you." She said seriously._

"_Why?"_

"_I've only read the first five chapters, but how can Andrew just leave Alba like that? I thought he loved her?" She was kind of pouting and Seth thought that was the cutest expression he had ever seen._

"_Hey give the guy a break. He really had put everything he had into their relationship, but Alba kept pushing him away. There is only so much a guy can take you know?" He said in a kidding manner._

_She suddenly became somber and said "I know". She then turned her face and put on this sad expression._

_Seth couldn't help but stare at her once again. He didn't think it was possible, but she looked even prettier than she had at the bookstore. Her sudden sadness made Seth want to reach out and hug her, but he refrained from doing so because he thought it would be awkward._

_She turned her face towards him, and all of a sudden all sadness seemed to disappear. "You're doing it again."_

_He was taken out of his trance "What?"_

"_You're staring at me just like you did back at the bookstore." She seemed to find the situation very amusing._

_He felt kind of embarrassed that she had noticed his staring, so he decided to change the subject. "Can I ask you something?" She nodded. "Why did it take so long for you to call me?"_

_Seth noticed that the sad look had come back "I was having some issues, and I couldn't find the time to start reading your book."_

_Her expression and statement worried him. That would be the first of the many times he would be concerned about her. "Is everything okay?"_

_She noticed his concern immediately and once again smiled and shrugged it off by saying "Yeah everything's fine now." He felt relieved with her answer and let it go._

"_So Seth it's my turn to ask you a question?"_

"_Shoot" He was happy that her cheerfulness had come back._

"_Who's the real Alba?"_

"_You're sneaky Summer." He grinned at her trying to avoid the subject._

"_I just gave you my review and insight, and you can't tell me who Alba is? You're being unfair to me Seth Cohen!" Seth thought she had sounded flirty, but he remembered what she had said about this not being a date. Besides just because he liked her it didn't mean that she liked him back, even if he really wanted her to._

"_Maybe someday I'll tell you."_

Seth remembered that day as one of the happiest in his life. They had talked for more than two hours about the most interesting and random stuff and they both had so much fun. As much as he knew Summer didn't want him crying he couldn't stop the tear that slipped down his cheek when he remembered how perfect they used to be together.


	3. I won't let you let me down

Disclaimer: I don't own the O.C.

A/N: This is kind of a filler chapter, but I hope you'll like it. The next one will begin to reveal some stuff about what is going on. I have already written most of it, so that will be up in some days. I would like to know what people are thinking of this story, and also thank the ones who reviewed last chapter.

* * *

It was almost six thirty so he knew she would be home any minute now. He had started making her favorite dinner which was the only actual meal he could cook and only because Summer had taught him. Before her, his cooking abilities were basically cereal and milk, eggs, pancakes and waffles, and those were all options that didn't come in handy when you planned a dinner. So one day Summer had decided that he had to learn to cook something else, and she had conveniently only taught him how to make her favorite dinner. He was going to try to make her talk even if he knew she would refuse, and he was expecting the dinner to at least do something in his favor.

The door opened and he heard her come into the kitchen after dropping her purse and keys on the couch. He turned around to show that he had heard her and she gave him a small smile and walk over to him. She pulled him down and hugged him and he hugged her right back with just as much force. After a while she let go of him, squeezed his hand and started to walk out.

Seth thought that was weird, he was happy for the hug, but he was expecting at least a hello. "Hey wait! I made you dinner, and it's your favorite too."

She turned around when she heard his voice "I'm tired and I don't feel so well, I'm going to take a nap."

"Okay" He had decided earlier today that he would at least get through dinner like a happy couple, which for him meant not making her angry by trying to get her to talk to him.

She seemed surprised that he had let it go so quickly, and felt bad for him just standing there now with his back to her, and doing something with the stove. "You don't mind?"

He turned around "No, it's fine, I'm just glad that you're home."

She almost believed the fine part, but she really didn't feel well and she was wishing it was something that a nap could heal. "We can have dinner when I wake up, and we can read some of your stuff too. Did you get to write anything?"

He had gotten to write something. He had actually called his publisher and changed the whole idea for his new book. Fortunately he had loved the idea and gave him the green light for it. He was now through the fifth chapter of it, but he couldn't show that to Summer. He wasn't sure how she would react to it, so he had finished the third chapter of the previous idea, and figured he would just show her that. "Yes, I have three chapters to show you. You go take your nap now and I'll go watch a movie so we can have dinner together later."

"You don't have to wait for me, you can eat if you're hungry."

"I don't have to, but I want to."

She smiled at him and he said "Go, sleep, or we'll be eating at 10." She decided to listen to him and then left the room.

* * *

When he said they would be eating at ten, he didn't actually think that they would be eating at ten. It was going to be that way seeing as it was almost ten and she hadn't woken up yet. He decided he would let her sleep, and he would eat by himself but he wanted to check up on her before he did. He walked into the room and saw her sitting up on the bed, clearly awake and flipping to what he noticed to be one of his books.

"Hey you're awake." He said excited that he wouldn't have to eat alone.

She just nodded and kept flipping through the book.

"You're not supposed to be reading my old books, you're supposed to be reading my attempt at a new one." When he saw that she didn't say anything he added "Want to have dinner now?"

He went to her and offered his hand for her to stand up, but she ignored it and walk past him, down to the kitchen.

"Not this again" He said to himself before he followed her to the kitchen.

She was putting together two plates and he watched her from the door until she had to take the first one out of the microwave. She put it on the table and motioned for him to sit down. "No, you can have this one." He said pointing to the heated plate. "I'll eat the other one."

She obliged and sat down.

After ten minutes, Seth was almost done with his food because he had been so hungry and Summer had most of it still on her plate. "You didn't like it?"

"No, it's good" She said finally acknowledging him. She had been picking on her plate since she sat down. "Thanks for making dinner by the way."

"It was nothing. But if you liked it then why aren't you eating."

"I'm not so hungry. I'll just put it away and I can eat it tomorrow." She picked the plate up, but Seth stopped her and got both of their plates. He then put hers in the fridge and started washing up his.

He could feel her eyes glued to his back, but didn't say anything. When he finished washing everything up he had to stop so he wouldn't have to yell out of frustration over her silence. Dinners used to be his favorite time with her. She would talk nonstop about her day, and Seth was lucky if he got one word in through her talking. But now all he got was silence. He took a deep breath and said barely above a whisper "I miss you".

It had been so low that she knew he had said something, but couldn't make out what it was "What?"

He turned around and repeated "I said I miss you."

"But I'm right here." She said confused.

"No you're not. You're not the Summer I know. It's like your spirit left your body." He sat down in front of her and waited for her reaction.

"Look I know I haven't been myself lately, but you have to give me time to figure out how to get back to being me." She said surprisingly calm.

"I want you to figure it out, but I don't think it's in your power anymore." He knew this would not go well when he said it, because Summer loved being in control and she hated when people told her she couldn't do something that she thought she could. But he also knew that this was beyond her, and even if she wanted to she couldn't deal with it alone.

He saw the angry look that she gave him and she said. "Why can't you trust me when I say that I can? Is it so difficult to believe in me?"

"I do believe in you. But I think maybe this is about...?" She seemed panicked at the idea of him saying it so he didn't. "I think we should go see your doctor." And there it was what he had wanted to say for weeks now, but was too scared of what her reaction would be if he did.

He tried to hold her hand, but she flinched when he touched her like it was fire. "Please don't touch me"

"Come on Summer don't this."

"What is it that I'm doing that is so terrible? All I ask is for you to give me some time, and you refuse to and instead tell me to go to the doctor." She was so mad at him right now, that she didn't want to be in the same room as him anymore. When she was almost at the door Seth grabbed her arm to stop her. She looked at his hand and then looked up at him. "If you can't support me, I think the least you can do is respect me and don't touch me when I ask you not to."

He was scared at the disappointment and angriness in her voice that he let go even before she finished her sentence, but he couldn't let the argument go so he followed her to the bedroom. He found her in the middle of the bed with her knees pulled up to her chest and her head on top of them.

"Why do you have to run away from it? Don't you think that we should deal with what is happening so we can get back to being us."

"Stop it! I seriously can't deal with you right now please just leave, I want to be alone."

"No I won't. We're in this relationship together and what happens to you affects more than yourself even if you don't want it to."

She decided to ignore what he said and focused on her need to be alone. "Fine if you don't leave, then I will."

He forgot for a second about her request and put his arm out to stop her, but he put it back almost as fast as he had touched her. "How many times do I have to ask you not to touch me!"

"I won't touch you anymore, but please don't leave. Talk to me." He was desperately pleading.

"You know what? I was actually not going to come back home after work today, I only did because I had promised you I would and all you're doing right now is making me regret it. I should have stayed out, because I could have avoided you." She had reached the point where she just wanted to make him feel bad, for pointing out the truth.

"I'm truly sorry that I have become such a terrible thing for you to come home to." He yelled at her and then added sounded completely hurt "You might not know how to handle your problems, but you sure are an expert at making me feel like I stopped being good enough for you." He left the room and slammed the door behind him but not before saying "I'm leaving, I hope you're happy now."

She wasn't happy, she hadn't been able to feel happy for some time now. She wasn't sure why, but she knew that Seth walking out of her life was an idea she couldn't even bear in her dreams.

* * *

"_Hi! Come in." She had invited him over to her apartment claiming that she had something to show him. Even if she hadn't told him she had something to show him, he would have still gone if she asked him to. They had been friends for a month since their meeting at the café and they were both happy with their friendship even if they both liked the other more than a friend would._

"_Hey Summer" He gave her a kiss on the cheek and followed her to the living room. "So this is your apartment." She sat him down on the couch, her sitting beside him. "So no tour, huh?"_

"_Maybe later." She laughed and picked a book up from the coffee table and gave it to him. "This is what I wanted to show you." _

"_Great my book!" He said sarcastically and when she punched his arm he saw that she was serious. "Ow! What about it?"_

"_Look through it" She motioned for the pages._

_Seth started looking through it and noticed that she had highlighted some lines. Romantic lines to be exact. He looked up at her waiting for her to explain._

"_I highlighted everything that I wish some guy would have said to me. And I wanted you to know that I was obsessed with Andrew from your book, and I wished I would someday meet someone like that. I was lucky enough to get the upgraded version as a friend." She seemed to be putting a lot of effort in saying what she had just said and Seth appreciated it and was left speechless. "I was talking about you by the way."_

_He laughed. "I know, I was just surprised, but thank you even if I'm not as great as you might think I am. I guess this is the time to tell you that I'm also happy that I met you." He hugged her and kissed her hair before letting her go._

"_There is also another reason I decided to tell you this, and I don't want you to be mad but can you tell me who Alba is?"_

"_Why do you want to know so badly?"_

"_Because I feel that this is a part of you, and that you don't trust me enough to tell me who she is."_

"_It's not that at all. The truth is I didn't want to tell you because I was embarrassed."_

"_Embarrassed about what?"_

"_You'll see." He paused looking unsure." Okay I'll tell you, but you have to promise not to laugh, or think that I'm pathetic."_

"_I won't. You can tell me now."_

"_Okay, Alba is…? You see she is…? I made her up."_

"_What!?" She sounded way louder than she had intended to._

"_Yeah she is fake, she came only from my mind. I haven't really had a real relationship well… never." He could only focus on his book now._

"_I can't believe this. Everything in here came from your imagination. How is that even possible?" She saw that he was avoiding her eyes, but then something came to her. "Oh my God, are you still a virgin?"_

_His head shot up so fast "No! I said I haven't had a real relationship meaning I have never been in love, but I have dated and I have also had sex."_

"_Oh, I get it. I've never been in love either. There was this one guy who I almost thought I loved, but he turned out to be a total jerk." She said sadly. _

"_That I refuse to believe."_

"_What the jerk part?"_

"_No, the you've never been in love part."_

"_Why?"_

"_Because you're the most amazing and wonderful woman I've ever met, and I can't see how anyone wouldn't want to love you and make you love him back." _

_The truthfulness and his words made her want to get closer and kiss him, and before she could think much about it she had her lips on his in the most passionate kiss she had had until that moment. Seth was shocked at first, but got over it quickly and put his hand on her back to pull her closer. When they had to break it for air, they were both smiling wide._

"_Sorry, it was what you said, it was even better to hear it from you that I had ever imagined it." What he had said was an improved version of one of the highlighted parts of his book._

"_You're sorry? Because I'm certainly not sorry about it. I'm actually glad that you did, because I had wanted to do it for some time now, but I was afraid you didn't feel the same way."_

"_I'm not sorry, I'm glad I did it too and I'm sure I feel something about you."_

"_Great because I'm kissing you this time" He pulled her closer to him, and they started kissing once again._

* * *

He went to the kitchen to turn off the lights, before he went to sleep on the couch when he saw the calendar on the counter. He started flipping through it and was surprised to see that tomorrow was Friday which meant they had to pick Olive up in the morning.


	4. Right beside you

Disclaimer: The O.C. is not mine.

So I'm already starting next chapter, and I have the whole story already planned out. I hope that you guys will like it, and if you do it would be great to read about it, and even if you don't too because that could help make it better. I started writing this only for myself, but I decided to share it only because there weren't many S/S stories in here, and that is the only thing I can read. I don't like other pairings, and I know there are many more stories about that than there are about S/S. I wish I did like to read other pairings, but I just don't. Okay so I got a little off track, what I meant to say is that if people are not liking my story it really is fine because believe me I'm not planning to make this my day job. I don't consider myself a writer, or any good at it for that matter. It is just something that I found to enjoy. I wouldn't want to keep posting something that I know people are not liking or caring about. So thank you for the reviews I got which are really appreciated. And if you're willing to share your thoughts, please do. I'm also sorry for my rambling, because it probably sounds more than annoying.

As I said in the previous chapter, this chapter will begin to reveal a little about what is going on. So read on, and I hope you'll enjoy it.

* * *

He let a couple of hours go by before he faced her again. He wasn't in the mood for anymore fighting but he had noticed that she hadn't been marking the days that had gone by on the calendar, which probably meant that she didn't have any idea what the date was. Not that that would matter, but tomorrow was the day that had the smiley face on, which was always a Friday every two weeks. To say that he was anxious about how tomorrow would go was an understatement. He loved that little girl way too much, and he knew that she looked forward to her visits every two weeks. She even had the exact same calendar with the smiley face on every two Fridays, that Summer had bought for her and taught her how to mark each day. Summer looked forward to those Fridays too, but with everything that had been going on lately he really couldn't blame her for forgetting. He felt kind of guilty because he too had forgotten about tomorrow.

He opened the door and saw that the only light in the room was her bedside lamp, which illuminated the frame that had his favorite picture of Summer and Olive in it. It had been a day at the park and Summer was trying to clean her up since she was all covered up in sand from the sand box. Olive had decided that this was funny so she started laughing nonstop, which had made Summer laugh nonstop too. He had pulled out his phone and took the picture without any of them noticing. He later gave the framed picture to Summer on her birthday and she had claimed it to be her favorite present ever.

He realized that Summer seemed to be sleeping so he laid beside her and ran his hand through her arm with the intention of waking her up. She immediately turned, and stared at him waiting for him to say something. "Hey I have to tell you something."

"Please I don't want to fight anymore." She pleaded with her eyes. "I'm sorry about earlier, I didn't mean any of it."

"I don't want to fight either, and it's okay we can figure that out later. This is actually not about that." He paused. "Today is Thursday." He said hoping she'd get what he was trying to tell her.

"So?" He looked at her waiting for her to realize it by herself. She did after a second and sat up "Oh my God Olive!"

"Yeah, I just remembered a couple of hours ago, because I saw the calendar. I knew that you had forgotten when I saw that you hadn't cross out any of the days this week."

"I don't know how I forgot about it." She sounded completely confused, not actually believing that it had been two weeks since she had been with her.

"I do, you have been all over the place… and denying it." He knew this wasn't the time to say this because she seemed to be panicking, but he hadn't been able to keep it in.

"Please Seth I'm trying to figure out what I'm going to do about tomorrow, and all you can do is try to once again point out what a mess I am!" She was raising her voice and starting to get angry.

Seth regretted his words because he knew he had come in here to solve the Olive issue and hopefully not fight in the process. "I'm sorry and don't worry about tomorrow, I'll pick her up if you're busy."

"No you can't, I promised her that we would both pick her up and take her to the petting zoo remember?"

Oh the petting zoo, he knew he was forgetting something else. Summer and Olive's favorite animal was the pony. Olive had been mesmerized when Summer told her she knew real ones, because she had thought that the only ponies in the world were her favorite toy pony that Summer had gave her some time ago, and all the other stuffed ponies she had. So that was when Summer had promised her that they would take her to meet the ponies on their next Friday together.

"… and now it is too late to take the day off." She finished and Seth, who had spaced out when he remembered about the petting zoo, only heard the last of her sentence. She was rambling which meant she was now officially panicked.

"It's okay, I'll take her and then we can come meet you when you get off from work."

He hopped this would calm her down, but it only seemed to make it worst. "No! You don't understand, I can't break my promises to her. I don't want to let her down." She said seriously sad about the whole thing.

"She loves you Summer. You won't be letting her down I'll explain it to her, this is no one's fault. And besides she'll get over it when I take her to the petting zoo and buy her everything she asks for. She will want to tell you everything about it when we come back."

"I get so little time with her." She said on the verge of tears. "And I also wanted to see the happiness in her face when she sees the ponies. I know that'll she love them just like I did when I was little and my dad took me to see them."

"I promise I'll take a picture of everything that happens, or even better I'll record it so we can watch it later. It'll really be okay." He said while grabbing her hand, wishing for his own sake that she had gotten over the whole don't touch me ordeal.

He was glad to see that she had when she got closer to him and placed his arms around her, as if trying to tell him that it was okay to hug her. He did just that and she buried her head on his chest. He felt so sad when he felt the tears that were starting to wet his shirt.

* * *

_He was laying in bed with Summer cuddling up to him, neither of them saying anything just enjoying each other. They had been together for a little over three months, and their dynamic was pretty much him picking her up after work and having dinner in either one of their apartments, staying over, having breakfast together the next morning and then her going to work. After that he would get back to his apartment and do some writing. He thought about her all day and he pretty much counted the minutes for him to go pick her up. The weekends were spent going out on dates and just getting to know one another. It was safe to say that since their first kiss they had spent every possible time together except for some Fridays when she hadn't been able to see him._

"_Hey I'm hungry". She said with a sleepy voice._

"_I thought you were sleeping."_

"_You know I'm more of an eater than a sleeper after sex." She said getting closer to him for warmth._

"_How could I've forgotten?" He laughed. "So what does my girl want that her boy can get her?"_

"_Ummm…. Pancakes!" She sounded so excited about the concept that he couldn't refuse to get up and go to the kitchen even if it required him having to cook._

"_Okay, I'll go make some, do you want to keep me company." He said trying to pull her up with him._

"_Do you mind if I stay here? I might have the strength to eat, but that is about it."_

_He couldn't help but laugh again. "Okay, I'll just bring it up here when they're ready. I do believe I owe you at least a couple of breakfasts in bed since you're always making them for me. Even if now isn't really breakfast time, but you could let that slide by, can't you?"_

"_Of course I can" She smiled from her place on the bed. "Kiss!"_

_He came back to her and gave her a peck on the lips before going to the kitchen to get her food._

_While he was putting the pancakes on the plate, he noticed that there was a calendar book behind the toaster. He picked it up and started flipping through the pages, he saw that it had nothing written on it more than a smiley face every Friday, every two weeks. He also realized that it was on the Fridays and the subsequent Saturday mornings that Summer said she had being too busy to see him for different reasons. He found the whole thing kind of weird so he put it in his pocket's robe to ask her about it. He then took the tray with the pancakes and some juice up to her room. _

_Her eyes lit up when she saw him at the frame of her door. He stopped, stared at her and said "You look beautiful."_

"_Thank you sweetie, you look handsome too, but I'm starving so can you bring that to me?" He always did this; he would just stop anything he was doing to tell her she looked beautiful or that she was amazing, or any other compliment he felt at the moment. She was used to it by now, but she still loved that he did it at the most random moments without expecting anything out of it._

_He gave her the tray and sat on his side of the bed. She was starting to cut her pancakes when she noticed him take something out of his pocket._

"_What's that?"_

_He handed her the book "I found it behind the toaster and I noticed that you only have some Fridays marked with a smiley face. What's that about?"_

_  
She immediately took it away from him and put her in the drawer next to her. "It's nothing, I don't even use it."_

_He wasn't so convinced with the answer, and there was also the fact that it was marked on the same days that they hadn't seen each other. "I also noticed that those were the exact same Fridays that you were busy, how come? Were you so happy that you didn't see me that you had to mark it on a calendar?" He sounded a little disappointed thinking that this was all about him._

"_God no! Why would you think that?" She said sincerely. "If you really want to know it's my period calendar. I use it to mark my periods, because I'm always forgetting about them." She realized it sounded completely stupid, but she hoped that the word period would get him to drop the issue._

"_Oh…ok" He looked down at her plate and realized that he left the syrup in the kitchen. "I'll go get your syrup, you can't eat them without it."_

_He came back and poured some of it on her pancakes. "Thanks" Summer started eating feeling relieved that he had dropped the calendar thing, but then realized he was staring into space with a puzzled look._

"_You want some?" She said pointing to her pancakes, but when he didn't answer she ran her hand through his hair to get him back into reality. "What is it baby?"_

"_It's just… I know I'm not an expert or a woman for that matter, but don't you guys get your period once a month not twice?"_

"_Yeah we do." She got back to her pancakes hoping he would stop the questioning._

"_Then you lied about the calendar. What is it that you won't tell me?"_

"_Maybe I don't want to tell you about it." She got up with her half eaten pancakes sounding annoyed and walked to the kitchen._

_Seth followed her and saw her angrily throw away the rest of the pancakes and put the dishes in the sink. She then walked back to the bedroom and got under the covers. Seth followed her like a puppy too afraid to say or do anything. This was the first time she had gotten angry at him, and he was pretty sure it was his fault even if he didn't mean to get her upset._

_He climbed in beside her, and she started silently crying with her eyes glued to the ceiling. _

"_Summer" He was trying to get her attention, but she wouldn't move. "Summer come on look at me."_

_She finally turned to him and he said "What is it? You can tell me."_

_She shook her head and continued crying "I want you to know that you can trust me, and you don't have to tell me anything if you don't want to. But I thought that we had gotten to a point where you would want to tell me what is on your mind especially now when I don't know what is it that is making you cry."_

"_I do want to tell you stuff, but I'm scared." She said almost in a whisper._

"_Scared of what?"_

"_I'm scared that you won't want to be with me anymore, that you'll leave me. I love what we have and I'm afraid it might end if I tell you this." She was still crying, but now it wasn't so sad it was more of an anxious crying._

"_I don't think there is anything that you can tell me that would make me go away. For me to leave you, you would have to physically kick me out of your apartment and I know you can't do that because even if you want to believe it you're not that strong." He was trying to lighten the mood._

_She laughed through her tears and said "As if Cohen you are way weaker than me, I could kick you out any time in a second."_

"_I rather you wouldn't try." He smiled and gave her a reassuring look. "Can't you just tell me?"_

"_Okay, but you have to promise you won't freak out?" She had stopped crying and was wiping away her tears with her hands._

_Seth took both of her hands away from her face and kissed away the rest of her tears. "I promise I'll be the most understanding boyfriend in the world."_

_She seemed hesitant, but then out of nowhere she blurted out "I have a daughter."_

* * *

After a while he heard her mumble "I miss her so much".

"I miss her too honey, but we could try to do something about it." He had always wanted to do something about it, but Summer would always refuse and as he predicted this time would be no different.

"We can't, I don't want Olive to be trapped in the middle of something like this. She'll get hurt and even more confused than she already is." She was talking against him and wouldn't look up at him.

"Okay, but you have to know that if you decide to do something, I'll be right beside you."

"I never doubted it." She looked up at him and laid a kiss on his chin. He returned the favor by kissing her forehead and pulling her impossibly closer.


	5. Do you still love me?

Disclaimer: The O.C. is not mine.

AN: I wrote half of this the other day, and I just finished it yesterday after having kind of a crappy day. So the result turned out to be the longest chapter I've ever written, and it also has some clichés here and there so sorry about that. I have exams until next Wednesday so next chapter might take a little bit more than a week. Thank you for the reviews and to answer Josh's question: no you didn't miss it, it hasn't yet. So read on and hopefully enjoy.

* * *

If Summer were to find out that he was running late, she would most likely kill him. Even more because she had woke him up before she left so he wouldn't sleep in and be late to pick up Olive. But after she left, he had immediately fallen sleep again because of the late night they both had. He didn't understand how she could have been up and out the door by eight in the morning, when now it was nine fifteen and he would be surprised if he managed to put both of his shoes on right. He was lucky he was a writer because he knew he would never be good at handling work hours. Summer would call him lazy, and he would fight back by saying he was just a late riser.

He had published his first book right out of high school, and from then on his professional life had been a complete success. He couldn't complain when it came to money, having more than enough to live a comfortable life. He had lived a wealthy life when he was a kid too, but he always had boundaries. That was what made him decide when he turned eighteen that he would support himself, and the only thing he accepted from his parents was that they pay for college. The other thing that he had learned from his parents was the importance of family, and to him his family was Summer and Olive. So when he realized this, he took out some money from his savings and bought the house they currently live in. She had wanted to live in an apartment, but he had protested that they deserved a house for their life together and to his happiness she had agreed.

So after a lot of speeding up he had finally arrived to the house merely twenty minutes late. He parked his car quickly and went to ring the bell.

"Good morning Mr. Cohen" He wasn't surprised that Laura the maid had answered the door, because Olive spent her mornings with her when she didn't go to day care, and some afternoons too. She was a nice woman in her late forties, and Olive really liked her which was the important thing. "Olive is upstairs playing, I'll tell her to come down." She said before he even got to answer her back, probably because he was late and Olive must have been nagging her about it.

"Please come down here Olive." She shouted up the stairs.

"Has she been good?" Seth asked referring to Olive.

"For the most part she has, but she has been getting into these tantrums where no one, not even Miss Katherine can calm her down."

"Yeah I know she had one about a month ago when she was with us, and a couple more before that. I can't calm her either." Summer was the only one that could, when he tried to do it she would start screaming and crying even louder.

Right that second Olive came bouncing down the stairs with her tiny bag, which was probably filled with toys because she had her own clothes back at their house, dragging behind her. When she saw who was at the door she dropped it and started running. "Daddy!"

Seth couldn't help but smile every time she called him daddy which was often. When he had first met her she wasn't speaking more than a few words, and one day she had called him "dada". That was one of the many reasons why even if she wasn't his biological daughter, to him Olive was his daughter. "Hey Oli-bee!" He picked her up as soon as she reached him, and started smothering her with kisses.

She started giggling, but after a while grew tired of it and started pushing his face away. "Stop it Daddy!"

He stopped. "I can't help it, I love my baby way too much." And then he kept kissing and tickling Olive who wouldn't stop laughing.

"Here is her bag" Laura interrupted them and handed Seth, who had finally stopped with the kissing attack, the bag. "Bye Olive." She patted the little girl on the head who said bye back, and then said goodbye to Seth closing the door behind them.

Seth was going down the stairs with Olive still in his arms when she asked "Where's Mama?"

He opened the car door and placed her in the car seat before starting to drive away "She's not coming sweetie, but I'm taking you to see the ponies and we can pick her up later." He was hoping that the ponies would make her ignore the fact that she wasn't coming, but no such luck.

"But why?" She said sadly.

"She couldn't get out of work, but we can call her now if you want to." He dialed his cell and put her on speaker so they could both talk to her.

"Hey honey did you pick her up?" She answered after only one ring, she was probably worried because he was supposed to call her earlier.

"Hi, yes were on…" He started, but Olive interrupted him.

"Hi mama, daddy says you can't come, but he is lying right?" She said hopefully and way louder than necessary.

"Hi baby! No, daddy isn't lying, I can't come but you'll still be able to go see the ponies."

"But I want you to come!" Her voice was breaking, and Seth knew she would start crying any minute now.

"I'm sorry Olive I want to be there too, but I can't. I'll see you soon though." She was trying to calm her down, and not break down in the process.

"But you promised!" She said between tears and disappointment.

Seth cringed when she said that because it was exactly what Summer had told him Olive would do when she found out she wasn't coming. Summer didn't say anything after she heard that, and he could see Olive pouting through the rear view mirror "Okay Sum I'm going to take you out of speaker."

"No wait!" She paused and seemed to be calming herself, so Olive wouldn't hear her sad. "I want you to have fun baby, and you can tell me all about it later okay?" When she didn't answer her she continued "I love you, bye sweetie." She was still waiting for an answer, but Olive wouldn't say a thing. "Olive?"

Seth turned to her when he got to a red light and patted her on the knee "Come on Olive, answer your mommy." Olive still wouldn't talk, she was sitting there silently crying. That to Seth was the worst cry, because if she was being loud it probably meant that she was cranky or wanted to get something, but when she cried like she was now it meant that she was truly sad.

Summer gave up after a minute, and referring to the speaker said "You can take me out now."

Seth pulled over to a parking space and put the cell phone to his ear "She's just cranky Summer, don't worry about it."

She knew he was lying, and she appreciated his effort to make her feel better but she didn't want to talk any longer. "Just call me later, I have to get back to work. Bye." And with that she hung up the phone.

Seth climbed into the back seat, and took Olive out of her car seat. She immediately climbed into his lap and put her tiny arms around his neck.

When she had seemed to calm down he sat her back in the car seat "Olive do you want to talk to me?"

She shook her head no while wiping away her tears.

"When you're angry, or sad, or even happy you can tell me, or your mommy, or anyone you feel like it, but you shouldn't keep this stuff to yourself." He already had Summer who hated to talk about her problems, and he wasn't about to let Olive go down the same path.

"I'm mad at mama." She finally said.

"I understand that sweetie, but she didn't come not because she didn't want to, but because she couldn't. She was really sad yesterday when she realized she couldn't come, but she couldn't do anything about it. Do you understand now?"

She nodded. "Good girl. Now can I ask you something?" She nodded again. "Do you love mama?"

"Yes."

"When you love someone, you should tell them because it makes them happy. And your mommy got a little sad when you wouldn't tell her earlier."

"I don't want to make her sad." She said quickly. "Can we call her?"

"Of course we can." He hugged her and then said "I'm proud of you baby."

"Daddy?"

"Yes?"

"I love you."

"I love you too, now let's call mommy."

* * *

"_You have a daughter" He sat up and repeated what she had just said. It felt more like a statement than a question. He thought he must have heard her wrong. He was expecting something simpler, never did it cross his mind that she would tell him she had a kid._

"_Yes, I have a daughter." She had sat up as well and was talking really low. She was feeling shy and scared about his reaction. She wanted him to tell her it was okay, that he didn't mind, but he had just frozen up._

_After what felt like forever he spoke again while laughing "You're kidding right? That's not possible."_

"_Why would I be kidding about something like this? I have a daughter, her name is Olive." She paused to see his reaction, but he remained quiet and still which made her think that he would be out the door any minute now. "Look Seth I really like you, but if this is going to be an issue for you then I guess we can't be together anymore." She sounded sad about the idea of him not accepting it, but she had to give him the option to leave now if he wanted to. Even if she had hidden it from him, she did in fact have a daughter that she loved to death. A daughter that would always come first to any men that could come to her life, even if she was starting to think she loved the guy in front of her like she had never loved any of her previous boyfriends._

"_Hey, hey stop jumping into conclusions." He recognized that he hadn't reacted very well to the news, how dumb was he to suggest that she would be kidding about it. She had seemed pretty upset before she told him, and he realized it was probably because she thought he wouldn't like that she was a mom. The bottom line was that it didn't bother him at all, and he needed her to know that. All he wanted was to understand why he didn't have a clue about this, and how was it that she had a daughter but he had never seen anything remotely close to a toy in her apartment, or even a picture for that matter._

_Her turned to her and cupped her face in his hands. "Okay listen to me, I wouldn't want to leave you because of something like this, but I want you to help me understand all of this. Would you?" He brought her face closer to his and kissed her to show her that he meant what he had just said._

_She let out a sigh of relief and after the kiss said "I will, I'll explain it to you, but there are things that I can't tell you just yet. I know that in time I'll be able to tell you, you just have to give me time okay?"_

"_Yes I can accept that." He wanted to be supportive in this moment, he couldn't tell her that he wanted her to want to tell him everything. He decided that for now he would take whatever explanation she was willing to give him. He had a million of thoughts running through his head, and he was looking forward _

_to her making them stop. "So who's the dad?" Probably not the most appropriate first question, but he put it out there without giving it much thought._

"_The father is an excuse of a human being really." He stayed quiet so she would continue. "Remember when we first got together and I told you I had once thought I was in love?" He just nodded glad that she was finally talking. "Well we were together for about six months, and then I found out I was pregnant. When I told him he actually seemed happy, and he told me we should move in together and get married after the baby was born. I was a little hesitant about the idea at first, but when I saw that he meant it, at least I thought he did, the whole family idea started growing on me. So we started looking for places to move in together, and plan for the baby. One day he was supposed to meet me at my doctor's office for my eighteen week check-up. He never showed up and then he send me a text message saying that he was sorry, that he thought I would be better off alone, and that he really didn't have what it takes to be a father. That was the same day I found out I was having a girl, it was the most bittersweet day I've had in my life. I never heard from him again, he hasn't met Olive and I really don't want him to ever come back."_

"_I'm so sorry." It was all who could say after her story and he felt it wasn't enough, so he hugged her realizing how difficult the whole pregnancy and subsequent birth must have been for her. He felt stupid for thinking her life had been a regular one just like his had._

_She rested her head on his shoulder enjoying his comfort "It's fine, I have gotten over it by now. I'm actually glad that he left, because I probably wouldn't have met you if he didn't." He found himself smiling at her statement, after considering what it would have been like if he had met her married to some guy who probably didn't deserve her. "Besides Olive already has a terrible mother, she doesn't need a terrible father too."_

_He pulled away and put his hands on her shoulders "I'm sure you're just being hard on yourself, you're amazing at everything, I can't see how you wouldn't be an amazing mom too."_

_She pulled herself back into his arms, not wanting to see the sincereness in his eyes anymore too afraid to destroy the perfect image he had of her "I'm not, I'm really not. I may try to be, but I seem to fail every time."_

_He felt that she was once again reaching her breaking point so he decided to ask her something else "how old is she?"_

_She pulled away from him and smiled proudly "She turns one tomorrow."_

"_She's still a baby." He was happy that she was so little, because that meant he hadn't missed that much of her life. He had decided a moment ago that he wanted to become a part of Summer and Olive's life, and he really couldn't wait to meet this baby who he knew he would love the minute he saw her._

"_Yeah, she's my beautiful baby. She's the sweetest kid and she laughs all the time. People say she looks like me too." Seth noted how her voice was filled with love and devotion._

"_She's beautiful then…" He was grinning and looking the most happy she had ever seen which made her be just as happy._

"_Beautiful and cute too. Just like you." She pinched his cheek for emphasis._

"_Where is she?" He sensed this would bring down the happiness they had going, but when she first told him about her daughter he had guessed she lived with her dad. Since that one had been ruled out, he didn't understand why she wasn't with Summer._

"_She lives with my mom not that far away. I'm only allowed to see her every two Fridays hence the calendar and the happy faces mark. She sleeps over, and then I have to take her back after lunch on Saturday." The tears started to slip again silently down her cheeks._

"_What do you mean allowed? You're her mom."_

"_Court's order." She simply said, not wanting to get more into it._

"_But why?" He really couldn't comprehend how someone could take away her child when it wasn't that hard to see how much she loved her daughter._

"_My mom claimed I was an unfit mother. Before I knew it they were taking her away and there was nothing more I could do. I was left heartbroken."_

"_I can't imagine how that must have been, I wish I had been there for you."_

"_You kind of were." He frowned not getting what she was saying. "The day I met you I had gone to the bookstore to get my mind off of everything. You made me feel better without even knowing it, and I felt hopeful that I wouldn't lose her. But as it turned out two weeks later they took her away from me. I was a complete wreck. I cried every night to sleep, until I saw your book on my table. I read it as fast as I could so I could call you."_

"_Have I ever told you how happy I was when I got that call?" He felt he needed to say it and he was also hoping it would make her feel a little better._

"_Yes you have, it's nice to hear it again though." She tried to smile through her tears and puffy eyes._

"_I'm sorry but this doesn't make much sense to me. Why would they take her away from you?"_

"_I don't want to talk about it anymore, it's too hard for me. I don't want to cry anymore. Can't we just lie down and let it all sink in?" She pleaded with her eyes, and he couldn't resist it._

"_Sure we can." He lay down and opened his arms for her. She cuddled up to him resting her head in the crook of his neck while he put both of his arms around her._

_After a while she seemed to have calmed down and she rested her chin on his chest so she could look at him. "Thank you for taking it so well." He placed a kiss on her forehead and didn't say anything. _

"_Tomorrow is one of the Fridays that I get to see her with the added bonus of it being her birthday."_

"_That's great Summer!"_

"_Do you want to meet her? I mean I understand if you don't because it might feel too soon, but I thought we could pick her up together. I have to go get her after lunch because my mom wanted the morning with her since it's her birthday." She was being shy and adorable as Seth liked to point out, of course he didn't this time. Instead he kissed her again this time on the lips. He was so pleased that she had asked. If she didn't he would have had to ask her instead, because he really wanted to meet her._

"_I would love to." She smiled and he too was smiling but to her it looked like he was plotting something on his mind._

"_What are you thinking?" She inquired._

"_Do you think Olive likes horses?"_

"_She actually loves ponies." She said joyfully._

"_Perfect!"_

* * *

He dialed her number, and this time it took a lot longer for her to answer. "Hey Seth, did something happen?" She wasn't expecting to hear from them so soon.

Olive answered for the both of them "Mama I love you a whole bunch."

"I love you too Bee. You're not angry anymore?" Her voice had quickly cheered up.

"No, because daddy explained it to me."

"Oh okay I'm glad he did. Are you going to have fun with the ponies now?"

"Yes!"

"Okay that's good, bye Bee" Olive then said bye back, and Seth once again picked up phone so only he could talk to Summer.

"See Summer everything's fine now, just like I said it would." He said proud of his work.

"Yes, I should really believe in you more often Mr. Now-it-all." She said with a laugh, but then added seriously "Thank you for talking to her, it really made me feel better. I thought for a minute that she didn't love me anymore."

"Neither of us could nor will ever stop loving you. But you did realize how it feels to think that someone might not love you anymore or not as much as they used to? That's kind of how I've been feeling lately." He admitted.

That comment broke her heart, because she didn't want Seth to think that she had stop loving him, or loved him less than she had. She may be a mess, but she was sure that she loved Seth more now after everything he's done than she had ever loved him before. She felt like she could let go at least for the moment being even if she would still have to keep a lot of stuff to herself "Seth?"

"What?"

"I love you." She said in the most sincere way she could express over the phone.

"You have no idea how happy that makes me feel Sum. I love you too and a whole bunch to quote Miss Olive." She couldn't help but laugh.


	6. Maybe It'll be okay

Disclaimer: The O.C. is not mine.

A/N: I should be buying my friend a present since it is her birthday, but I had to get this one out before I left. So I sat down to write this thinking okay I'm making this chapter short, but before I knew it it was longer than I intended it to be so here it is. I checked this twice and I usually do it three times when my friend is too busy to do it, so sorry for any mistakes that may have slipped by. I loved the reviews for the last chapter, thank you for them. Now read on and enjoy.

* * *

He knew the way into her office as if he worked there himself. He used to always pick her up, but some months ago she stopped asking him to take her to work or pick her up. The high of his day, when he had a good or a bad one, used to be her greeting him when he got there and he now realized how much he had missed it. After their talk in the car, he was feeling positive about their outcome, and he really hoped he would be right about this one.

He took the elevator with a sleeping Olive in his arms, who had been tired out after their day at the petting zoo followed by some toy shopping and then lunch. He asked for her at the reception and the girl there told him that she was supposed to get out of a meeting any minute now. He sat on a chair at the entrance so she would see him when she got out and also because his arms were starting to hurt from carrying the little girl.

She came out about fifteen minutes later with her closest friend from work. She spotted Seth and pointed them out to Summer who still hadn't notice them. When she saw them her eyes lit up and she hurried up to them while calling for Olive.

"Shhh Summer she's asleep." He ran a hand through Olive's hair to get her back asleep because she had started to stir when she heard her name being called.

"Oh I'm sorry" She whispered and Seth got up to greet them, but Summer had other plans. "Give her to me." He passed Olive to her, and she started laying little kisses to the side of her head so she wouldn't wake up.

"Don't I get one?" Seth smirked to her.

"Sure, come here." She smiled up to him, and put her free hand behind his neck to pull him down to her. She gave him a longer kiss that he was expecting, and he found himself smiling into the kiss.

"PDA much!" They immediately pulled away when they heard Andrea her friend say so they wouldn't forget she was still there.

"Sorry" Summer mumbled unable to wipe the smile out of her face. She too was remembering how much she loved to see him when she got out from work every day.

"Hi Andrea how are you? Long time no see." Seth said.

"Hi. I'm fine and you? How come we haven't seen you around here for some time?"

Seth turned to Summer who had a face that told him not to mention anything about them, not that he was about to but Summer had just made it very clear that he shouldn't. He was surprised she hadn't told her because she told Andrea everything, and she was the only friend she really trusted. He also felt kind of relieved that she hadn't told Andrea about her issues either because if she felt she could trust Andrea and not him he really wouldn't know where he stood. "Oh you know I've just been really busy lately with my new book coming out soon, but I have a feeling I'll be coming around here more often." He pulled Summer closer by the waist, and she let herself rest against him.

"Oh great, I'm guessing Summer will make me read it as soon as it comes out." She was making fun of Summer's insistence that she should read every single one of his books.

"Of course I will make you." She said proudly and laughed.

"And Olive she's gotten so big, and even prettier than the last time I saw her." Summer turned sideways so Andrea could see her better. She knew her daughter was beautiful, but she liked to hear it from other people. It made her feel that at least she had made something good in her life.

"Are you ready to go Summer? I don't want Olive to wake up, she'll get in a bad mood when she sees she's not in her bed."

"Yeah let me just get my bag." She passed Olive back to Seth, and when she came back they both said goodbye to Andrea.

* * *

They were in the car driving to their house, with Summer sitting in the back next to Olive's car seat not wanting to be away from her any longer.

"Hey Summer?"

"Yeah?"

"Olive asked me something today."

"What?" She looked at him through the mirror.

"She said she wanted to stay with us until Sunday. Supposedly there is this and I'm quoting her on this _funny and awesome TV show _that is only on Sunday mornings and she wants to see it with us."

She smiled when she pictured Olive rambling about this TV show to her daddy, but then felt sad because she knew they wouldn't be able to see it together as much as they wanted to. "What did you tell her?"

"I said I had to talk to you about it." He said it quickly because she knew she would be angry at him.

"Seth!" She yelled, but then lowered her voice when she remembered Olive was still sleeping. "Why would you tell her that?"

"Because she seemed so excited about it, I couldn't just say no."

"So you decided to leave the dirty work to me, so she would once again be disappointed by her mother."

"There's no need for any dirty work. I thought we could ask your mom maybe she'll say yes if we promise to get her back early on Sunday." He didn't even know why he was suggesting it when he knew it wasn't an option.

"And tell me when has that ever worked before?"

"Never, I know. I'll tell her she can't stay when we get home."

"It's okay that you wish she could stay longer, I do it all the time. We'll tell her together." She got closer to him and gave him a kiss to the side of his face since she couldn't get him to turn around because they would probably crash.

She sat back and noticed that Olive was starting to wake up. "Hey sleepyhead."

Olive smiled up at her, and Summer was happy to see that she wasn't in a bad mood. "Mama!"

"Hi baby, how was your nap?" Olive was squirming and trying to get out of her seat while putting her arms out to Summer.

"Take me out Mama."

"You can't Olive, not until we get home." She put her hand to her tummy to settle her down, but she kept moving around.

"Come on Olive be good and hug your Mama, you said you missed her." Seth said from the front.

She stopped and put her arms out again. Summer hugged her as much as she could with Olive still strapped in. "Where are we going?" Olive asked when she had gotten tired of the hugs and kisses.

"We're going home sweetie."

"I don't want to." Olive whined.

Seth and Summer both frowned, because she had never not wanted to go home with them. "Why?" Summer asked.

"I want to stay with you and Daddy, I don't want to go to Mommy's house." Olive called her grandmother "Mommy" and Summer "Mama".

"You are not going to Grandma's. You're coming with Daddy and me to our house." Summer explained to her.

"Oh okay." She smiled happy with what they had just told her.

Summer then asked her about her day, and they couldn't get her to stop talking until she went to bed that night.

* * *

_Seth had woken up really early to start working on something that he had thought about the entire night. He had to go to the store to pick up everything he needed to start painting, and he did this while Summer was still sleeping because he wanted it to be a surprise. After a lot of work he was finally finished, so he decided to go wake her up because he couldn't wait to show her._

"_Summer wake up, I want you to see something." _

_She turned around and mumbled something that sounded like "go away"._

_He kept trying to wake her up but nothing seemed to be working, she hadn't even opened her eyes. His next option was getting in bed and jumping and moving around to get her attention._

_She opened her eyes and looked at him like he was crazy "What are you five? God what do you want!"_

"_Come see" He did sound like a kid excited about showing his creation to someone while pulling her up and dragging her to the living room._

"_This better be good. You should know better than just interrupting my sleep, you've just put me in a bad mood." She pulled her hand out of his, but still followed him._

"_Look!" He pointed out a banner hanging from the living room wall._

"_What is…" She started but then stopped, admiring what she saw before her. It was a huge banner with a painting of a horse, which she recognized as the toy horse she had been introduced to the first time she went to Seth's apartment. There was also a pony exactly as the one she had given Olive when she was born. She had showed it to him in a picture she had of her as a kid, and he had remembered it exactly because he had painted it to perfection. On the center was a baby pony blowing a birthday cake with a single candle in the middle of it. On top of the painting it read "Happy Birthday Olive, Love Mom and Seth"_

_Sometime around her admiring of the banner, he had wrapped his arms around her waist from behind and whispered in her ear "Do you like it?"_

_She turned around in his arms and kissed him slowly and meaningfully "I love it Cohen. It's perfect!"_

"_Do you mean it? Because for a minute there I thought you might think it was weird."_

"_It's not weird silly, it's sweet. Really sweet."_

"_Okay good. I'm glad you liked it. I also bought her some presents, some ponies and some other stuff I thought she would like."_

_She smiled "You're amazing you know that?"_

"_Thank you baby." He kissed her forehead "And don't worry I checked, it is all for kids under a year or lower in age."_

_She nodded and then checked her watch "It's getting late, we should go buy some wrapping paper because I used up all I had with the presents I had bought her. And we have to pick up the cake I ordered and some decorations. Hurry up or I'll leave without you." She turned around and walked back to the bedroom._

_He ran behind her and picked her up carrying her to the bathroom "So this is what I get for painting all morning? You leaving me if I don't hurry up!" She just giggled in response, and let herself be carried away by him._

_Seth opened the door so Summer could get in with Olive on her hip._

_She saw the banner as soon as she was in and started saying "pony", so Summer took her over to it and she immediately tapped her hands against the banner while laughing. Seth stayed back smiling when he saw that Olive loved what he had done._

_When Olive had had enough with the banner, Summer sat her down on a blanket with a toy to entertain her and walked over to where Seth was standing "She doesn't bite you know."_

_He gave her a hint of a smile "I know, I just don't know how to approach her."_

"_She's one Seth, you don't exactly have to impress her with an in-depth conversation." She was trying to get him to relax, but then she realized how shy he was being and that he needed her help. He was nervous and she could see that, so she grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the couch. She sat him down and handed him one of Olive's toys "Just call for her."_

_Seth was hesitant at first, however he decided to do what she had told him to "Olive. Olive." _

_Olive was hypnotized with the toy she was playing with, but when she heard her name she turned to Seth and saw the toy. She tried to get up but Summer had to help her since she could only walk if someone was holding both of her hands. She walked her towards him, and when Olive reached him she grabbed onto the pants on his legs and looked up at him. It was amazing how much she looked like Summer, her eyes, her smile, even her hair, Olives' was just a little lighter, but besides that everything was the exact replica of her mother._

"_Pick her up." Summer encouraged him still standing behind Olive._

_He did and sat her on his lap while waving the toy for her to get it "Hi Olive!"_

"_Hi!" She repeated which made Summer and him laugh._

"_See she's sweet, she'll love you in no time. I'm going to change into something more comfortable, these shoes are killing me. I'll be right back." She said the first excuse she could come up with because she wanted to leave them both alone._

_When she came back she saw Olive standing on Seth's lap while he was holding both of her hands and making silly faces to her who was happily laughing. Seth then stopped, sat her down again, and gave her a sweet kiss on her baby head._

_Summer entered the room and sat next to them on the couch. Seth smiled and turned to her "I think I'm in love."_

_She smiled back at him proud that her daughter and her boyfriend were liking each other. She then reached for Olive who had her arms extended out to her and rested against Seth who wrapped his arms around both of them._

* * *

"_Summer can you come here for a second." Olive was already sleeping, and Summer was in the kitchen doing something._

"_Yeah just give me a second." She came into the room and sat next to him on the couch._

"_I wanted to tell you something." He pulled her up and sat her down on his lap. He started playing with her hands and looking at them._

_She pulled one of them out of his grasp and put it to his chin to get him to look at her. "Just tell me Seth. You're making me nervous."_

"_It's something I've been feeling since I met you, but after seeing you today with Olive I realized it was real."_

"_What is that?"_

"_That I love you. I really do. It's amazing, I never thought it would feel so great." He said sincerely._

_She hugged him to her and placed kisses on his neck. She then pulled away and looked into his eyes before kissing him on the lips. "I love you too. I have felt it for some time now too, I'm just so happy to hear you say it."_

_He kissed her once again before saying "I also wanted to tell you that you're a wonderful mother. Olive is really perfect and thank you for letting me come into your lives."_

"_I should be the one thanking you. I can see how much she liked you and you were just great with her today."_

_He hugged her closer to him and after a moment of silence said "Would you tell me about the day she was born?"_

"_Sure."_

* * *

The next day they were having lunch at a kid's themed restaurant that Olive loved, and they had about half an hour until they had to get Olive back to her grandmother's.

"Bee come eat we have to go soon." Olive was still playing so Summer had to go get her and seat her down in front of her plate. She kept turning around watching the rest of the kids play.

"Olive. Olive. Olive." She finally turned around to Seth who was trying to get her attention so she would eat. "We can have ice cream, but you have to finish all of your food now."

Olive ignored him not really interested in eating "I want to go to the park next."

They both remembered that they had forgotten to tell her that they had to drop her off next. They really hadn't forgotten it, they just wanted to postpone the crying she would most likely do when they told her she couldn't stay until Sunday. "We can't Bee, maybe Grandma can take you. You can ask her when we go there."

"But I'm not seeing Mommy until Sunday."

Summer looked at Seth for help, so he said "No Bee, you're going to Grandma's now when you finish eating."

She sat back and crossed her arms "I don't want to."

"You have to eat, and it's your favorite too." Summer put some food on her fork and tried to feed her, but Olive jumped out of the seat and went back to the games.

Summer put her head to her hands frustrated with the situation and Seth got up "I'll go get her."

Summer got up too and stopped him "No, let me do it."

He sat back and saw how Summer tried to talk to her, but after a minute Olive started crying and getting really loud. Summer picked her up and walked back to the table. "Maybe we should just go."

"I'll go pay, take her to the car. I'll be right out." He handed her they keys and she left the restaurant.

When Seth got out he saw Summer struggling to seat Olive down. Her face was red, and she was almost out of breath from so much crying. "Olive stop it, you have to breathe sweetie." She acknowledged him for a second, but then reached back for Summer.

Summer got her to seat down and then put her hands on each side of her face "Olive look at me." She shook her head and closed her eyes while still crying. "Please stop. Mama loves you." She stopped, opened her eyes, and stoop up in the back seat to hug Summer around her neck.

She sighed and said "Let's go Seth."

"You are not going to strap her in?"

Summer had sat down and closed the door with Olive still crying with her legs wrapped around Summer's waist and her hands clinging to her neck. "I don't want to make her more upset. It's a short ride, she'll be fine."

* * *

They got to the house and Seth rang the bell with Summer beside him carrying a silently crying Olive.

Her mom opened the door "Hi Summer, Seth. Hi Olive." She reached for her, but Olive clung to back to Summer.

"She's upset because she wanted to stay with us until Sunday." Summer told her.

"She can't. Come Olive, it's time to come in the house." She tried to grab her again, but Olive wouldn't let go off Summer.

"Let her go Mom! Can't you see she doesn't want to?" Summer told her sternly, so Katherine took a step back. "I'm going to talk to her." She took Olive to the side of the porch, and put her down. She quickly tried to run back to the car, but Summer caught her before she went too far. She started talking to her, so Seth pulled Katherine back into the house, so they could give Summer and Olive some mother, daughter alone time.

"Olive wanted to stay until Sunday to watch some TV show with us. We could get her back as soon as the morning show ends." After he had seen how much Olive wanted to stay with them, he decided he should at least try.

"That's impossible Seth. She gets to be with you on Fridays every two weeks, and that's the way it is."

"I just thought we could have her one more day. You saw how much she wanted it." He hoped she could appeal to her heart, if reason wasn't doing much to help him.

"I'm sorry, but I have to say no."

He couldn't take her stubbornness anymore, so he walked back to Summer and Olive who were both hugging and crying. When they pulled back they both smiled, and Olive gave Summer a kiss on the nose.

"Olive, Mama and Daddy have to go know. Can I have a kiss and a hug too?"

Seth kneeled down to her level, and Olive did the same she had just done with Summer. Summer stood back and waved goodbye to Olive who got in ignoring her grandma and ran up the stairs most likely to her room.

Summer went back to the car without saying goodbye to her mom. Seth turned to Katherine and she said "I see she's not doing so well."

Seth got so mad at her statement, because even if she was right who was she to tell him how her girlfriend was doing. She never saw her alone, they just saw each other when they picked up or dropped Olive off.

"You have to help her, before it gets too bad. It has before." She continued before he could answer.

"You know Olive and Summer don't just want to be together. They need to be together. I thought you as a mother could be able to tell the difference between what your daughter and granddaughter just want and what they need. You just hurt Summer with what you just did more than you'll ever know."

He couldn't talk to her anymore, so he walked back to the car where he saw Summer with her eyes glued to the window and a vacant expression on her face.


	7. The truth

Disclaimer: The O.C is not mine.

A/N: I had this written for a while but I wasn't going to post it because I didn't feel so sure about it. I already knew this was the way I was going to go but I didn't like it when I put it into words. I don't like unfinished stories and I couldn't do it to mine so I decided to continue. I also didn't want S/S to end sad and I'm kind of tired of them being like that, but there is still one more thing left to be told following this one. After those chapters, they'll be happy and this story will be finished. Sorry for the long wait, also if it is too long and thanks for the reviews.

--

He had asked her if she wanted to do something to get her mind off of everything after they left her mom's house. She refused. Instead she asked him to take her straight home. When they got there she told him she was going to get a shower. It had been about an hour since that and he was still waiting for her to come out of the bathroom.

He knocked softly on the door. "Summer are you okay in there?" He got no answer.

"If you want some alone time, I'll go away. I just want to know if you're okay." Still no answer, all he could hear was the shower running.

"Fine, I'll be in the living room if you need me." He paused to see if she would finally answer him. "I'm going now."

"No wait!" It was barely audible with the sound of the shower and the door between both of them, but he still heard her.

"Can I come in?"

"Yes…"

He did and found her sitting next to the bathtub with all of her clothes still on and surrounded by the steam from the shower. When he got closer to her, she looked up at him. Her face was covered in tears.

"Oh Summer" He put his hand out to her so he could help her up. Instead she took it and pulled him down next to her.

He hugged her and she buried herself in his arms. "Why won't you just talk to me?"

She didn't respond or even move. Seth kept hugging her until he realized how hot the room was so he pulled away from her to reach for the shower. He didn't get too far away because when he tried she pulled him back. "No, don't leave me."

"I won't. I'm going to turn the shower off." She let him get up but kept his right hand in hers making it hard for him to get to the shower. But she couldn't let go. She felt like a kid again with Seth as his security blanket. If she let go, she would be alone and unsafe just like she was before he came into her life.

"It hurts Seth." She choked out.

"What does?" He instantly turned into protective mode.

"Everything, my heart, my soul… even waking up in the morning. It's like I can't be happy anymore and I know I should be because I have you and Olive but I just..I can't."

"I didn't realize it was that bad…"

She wanted to get all of her feelings out now. If she put it off any longer, she didn't know if she could make it through another day. "I'm finally starting to understand why my dad did what he did. I always hated him for it. I never got how he could leave when he was all I ever had, but now I see how he might have felt."

Summer hated mentioning her father. She had told him once what happened and that is all he really knew from him. The other things he knew were from the times she had randomly mentioned him but they were never full stories, just pieces of memories that she let slip by. "Don't try to justify him Sum. It was selfish from him to have done what he did. It wasn't right to leave his daughter like that."

"I'm not saying it was right, I'm saying I understand where he was coming from. Sometimes I feel like leaving too. It would be the best for everyone and I would be leaving my daughter with two wonderful people that will always be there for her." Her darkest feeling was finally out there for him to dwell on.

He pulled away holding her at arm's length and looking straight into her eyes. "You don't mean that."

"I do." She knew she was hurting him with her words. That's why she had kept it to herself for so long but it had become more than she could handle.

"You want to leave us, Olive and me. You would want to live in another place without being able to see your mother, and your daughter and… and me."

"I could never live without you guys. I meant the other kind of leaving…" She couldn't bring herself to say the actual word. She could see how he was now thinking how he had failed her, how he wasn't good enough for her. In reality it was the other way around. He was everything she ever wanted and needed. He had made her believe in happiness, but somewhere along the way something had cracked. Just like it always did. She was the one who was incapable of getting herself together. She had done this to herself and now it was too late to fix it. She was far too gone. She couldn't see the people around her getting hurt by her anymore. Her being gone would be best for everyone.

"Damn it Summer! How can you even say that?! You think that you dying will make everything better. Like we would just say _hey that's great_ and then live happily ever after without you." He stood up not wanting to touch her anymore. It hurt too much that she would even consider the idea, even worst when she seemed to have put a lot of thought into it. She remained on the ground defenseless with her body against the cold tiles. She wanted him right next to her but she knew that reaching for him would be useless, he would pull away and that would hurt even more.

"I know you can't but please try to understand how I feel, where I'm coming from." She begged.

"That's just it Summer. I have no idea why you're even considering this. All I'm hearing is that you want to bail out on us." He kneeled down in front of her, suddenly softening his approach while a few tears rolled down his cheeks. "Please tell me that this isn't what you want. Please tell me that you want to stay with me, that I'm good enough to make you want to live."

"You are good enough." She touched his cheek and was surprised when he let it stay there. "But I can't make you happy anymore. All I do is bring you and my daughter down."

"Stop saying that. The my daughter part." He said distancing himself from her again.

"Why?"

"Because she is our daughter. Ours. You and me. We are one. There's no me without you anymore."

"She _is_ your daughter. You're the greatest father she could have ever gotten. That's why I know you two will be okay without me."

"Please don't say that anymore. This isn't what you want…"

"But it is. It's how I feel Cohen."

He got up and walked as fast as he could to the door. He could hear her calling out for him, saying she was sorry she felt that way. She yelled that she needed him, to please not walk away from her. He shut it all out and walked out of the house too hurt to even be in the same house as she was.

* * *

It didn't take him long into his walk to come to his senses. She had finally told him what she felt. It was what he wanted all along and the minute she did it he had walked away from her. Of course he felt like his heart had been ripped apart but if he felt this way now, how would he feel if she actually went through with what she told him? She needed him and here he was wandering the streets without feeling any better. Summer was his everything and he had just left her hysterically crying in the bathroom because he was too much of a coward to face the reality of what he had just heard.

He ran back to the house faster than he thought it possible and was in the bathroom within seconds. He found her curled up in the exact same spot. When he came in her head shot up. "I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have left. I love you. I'm right here with you no matter what."

She sat up and this time it was her who put her hand out to him. He bent down and picked her up carrying her to the bed. He laid her against the sheets and covered her completely with his body. He rested his head against her chest allowing himself to cry into her.

She ran her hand through his hair while the other one was drawing circles on his back to comfort him but the tears kept wetting her shirt. "Please don't cry. It hurts too much to see you do it."

He looked up at her. "Promise me you won't do it, that we'll figure everything out together. I know we can."

She looked into his eyes and the love in them told her that maybe just maybe they could do it. She knew everything wouldn't suddenly be great again, but she owed it to him to at least try. So guided by love she answered with a simple "Okay."

He smiled and she realized that the tears that were still rolling down his cheeks were ones of relief. She put her hand on his neck and pulled him to her in the sweetest most gentle kiss she could muster. It was short and it tasted like tears but in that moment when he rested his head against her chest again, she knew this was for good.

--

"_Okay so I was thinking that if we talk to my dad, he might be able to help us with Olive's custody. I know that during his early years he used to help mothers who had custody issues. Since he loved you and Olive so much he would have no problem with it. But I don't know what we should try for, full custody or shared custody with your mom? I know what you got right now is technically shared custody but let's be honest you might as well not see her at all seeing as you only get a few days with her a month. I think we could go with one week with us and one week with your mom to begin with. Is that even possible? I should have listened to my dad when he told me I should become a lawyer… Oh well too late I guess. I'm going to call him right now, we could go over there tomorrow. We could go after you get off work right?"_

_He had been walking aimlessly through the living room and the kitchen taking stuff from one room to the other. Summer was pretty sure that he hadn't even realized he was doing this given that he currently had a ketchup bottle, which he didn't need, in his hand. He handed it to her but she pushed it away and went back to running her hands through Olive's hair who was currently sleeping on her lap. When he reached for the phone to call his dad, she decided she had had enough of his hyperactiveness and rambling. "Ok stop!"_

_He turned to her while dialing the numbers and gave her a puzzling expression. "What?"_

"_Close the phone." She said sternly._

_He put the phone back in its base and looked at her. "Why?"_

"_Because you've been rambling for the past hour about Olive and custody battles and you haven't even asked me how I feel about it."_

"_I just assumed this was something you wanted. You do want this don't you?"_

"_I do want this." She paused and he went back to picking up the phone so she had to stop him again "But not like this and definitely not right now?"_

"_What do you mean like this? And what's wrong with right now?"_

"_I just don't think that this is the right time to try to do this."_

_He had learned by now when Summer was being honest and when she was acting like she was hiding something from him. "This isn't about me or being the time to do it, is it? There's something you're not telling me."_

_She picked Olive up from her lap and hugged her close. She then looked at him and nodded sadly._

_He went to sit next to them. "What is it Sum?"_

"_I should put Olive to bed. I'll be right back." She got up but Seth stopped her._

"_I want to kiss her goodnight." He said as an explanation. He kissed Olive's cheek and said "goodnight baby" before letting Summer go._

_It wasn't long before she came back and sat down on the same spot. She looked at him "remember when I told you that my mom had gotten Olive because I was suffering from post partum depression that went on longer than it should have."_

_He nodded and she continued "Well there's more to it than I told you."_

_She stopped and seemed unsure. "You can tell me." He said placing a hand on her knee encouraging her to continue._

"_That wasn't the first time I've had something like that."_

"_What do you mean?"_

"_I... I suffer from severe depression. I've had it since I can remember but I wasn't diagnosed until I was sixteen. My doctor, who is really my psychiatrist, helped me a lot once I was diagnosed but then when my dad left it got really bad. "_

"_You mean when your dad died?"_

"_Yes I know I told you my dad died and he did, but the truth is he left me a year before he died."_

"_He left where? He did have cancer didn't he?"_

_Summer shook her head no and the first tears started running down her cheeks._

_He put his right hand on top of her two hands to stop them from twisting nervously on her lap. "Where did he go? Come on Summer tell me sweetie. It's okay."_

"_He abandoned me. I have never told anyone this, not even my friends back then, just my therapist. They all thought that my dad had died. Oh God it hurts just thinking about it. I can't even tell the story, I hate being so damn weak." She cried._

"_How many times do I have to tell you that you're strong? You manage to be the greatest mom and the greatest girlfriend through it all, and you do it all with so much love."_

_She fell against his side and started fumbling with the fabric of his shirt. She was gathering the strength to get it all out because she _needed_ it out. "One night I went to bed and the next morning when I woke up he was gone. I figured he had gone to work early but then I found a note in the kitchen. It said that he loved me but he couldn't be with me any longer. Something about him not being good enough for me. He wrote that he had driven my mom away from us back when I was twelve and that he didn't want to do the same with me."_

_He hugged her tighter still confused about everything. He had already had a chance to be mad at Summer's mom when he had found out she had walked out from her family when she was little. Now finding out that his dad had done the same, it was just too much for a person to take. The worst part was that they had done it to Summer. His Summer. Of course she could sometimes have a temper that could scare anyone out, but behind that was this sweet girl who wouldn't do anyone any real harm by choice. He hated them for disappointed her like they had and he vowed that he would never do the same to her._

_Finally she continued. "I had no idea what he was talking about. I didn't understand any of it and I wouldn't until a year later. At the end of the letter my mom's phone number was written. He said that I should call her, that he knew she would come back to be with me. He couldn't call her himself because she wouldn't take any of his calls ever since she had left us."_

_She stopped and he said "it's okay if you don't want to tell me more."_

"_No, you need to understand where I'm coming from." He nodded against her head. "So I went to school that day and tried not to worry much about it. I wanted to believe that it wasn't real, that he would be back every night just like he had every night since my mom left us. I tried his cell hundreds of times and all I got was his voicemail. I came home that night after being with my friend that afternoon to avoid everything, and I found his cell in his room. Once again I didn't panic and I also wasn't planning to call my mom. For all I knew she didn't want anything to do with me because she had left. After two weeks of being alone and keeping it a secret from everyone, I decided to call my mom. It was a very awkward phone call but she came as soon as she could and said she was moving in. I was shocked and sad and didn't even have the strength to be happy about her coming back. I simply stop caring. I would go to school because my mom forced me to but I didn't pay attention. I stopped talking to my friends and I would spend the whole day in my bedroom either crying or sleeping."_

"_If you were able to get through that, how can you even think you're not strong? You are."_

_She wiped away a few tears, looked up at him and continued talking. "My mom had no idea why I was like that. She knew I had the right to be sad about my dad but she couldn't figure out why I kept getting worse and worse. She thought it was because I was still mad at her but I told her I had already forgiven her. Then I told her I would get better with time and to just give me some space. In reality I was too afraid to tell her I needed help because I thought she might leave me again. At this point I also thought I was the one who had driven my dad away and I was hurting even more. I knew that this was the worst I had ever felt and it wouldn't get any better. That was actually the worst period of depression I have ever gone through."_

"_Why couldn't your doctor help you?"_

"_What happens is that when I get depressed I turn into this completely different person. I don't let anyone in and I refuse to get help. I only got better before that because my dad would drag me to my doctor but my mom didn't know this and I didn't want to accept I needed help . The worst came when we got a phone call that said they had found my dad dead in a hotel room. He had killed himself leaving a couple of letters behind. One for me and one for my mom."_

"_Oh my God Summer, I'm so sorry." He reached out to hug her but she pushed his arms away._

"_No! I need to go on." He nodded but hugged her anyway. This time she let him and continued talking._

"_The letter said he was sorry but he couldn't go on any longer. He told me he suffered from depression too and he hoped one day I could forgive him for doing this. He said I couldn't let depression take over my life like he had. He finished by writing that he knew one day I would get married and be a great mom because it was something I had in me even if he didn't. After that I reached my breaking point. "_

"_What happened?" He inquired, concerned._

"_I need you to understand that when this happened I wasn't in my right state of mind. I'm okay now so please don't freak out about this."_

"_Okay", he said trying to convince himself more than her._

"_My mom found me passed out from taking depression pills. I had gotten so frustrated with everything that I took some pills I had from my previous treatments. I didn't want to kill myself, I just wanted to get better. In my screwed up mind I thought that if I took more, the pain would go away."_

"_You didn't take that many did you?"_

"_Enough to have to rush me to the hospital. My mom by now knew what I had because my dad had told her in the letter he left her. She made me stay in the hospital until I got a little bit better and then she forced me to go to therapy. I eventually recovered and my relationship with my mom became better. After that I made sure I never missed my medication because if I do I instantly get back into it."_

"_So what does this have to do with Olive? You're okay now right?"_

"_I am now but I wasn't when Olive was born."_

"_Did something happen again?"_

"_When I found out I was pregnant, I went to the doctor that same day. She told me I couldn't take my medication because it would hurt the baby. There were no second thoughts. I knew I had to stop and I did. I thought I was fine during my pregnancy but I didn't realize that these feelings were building up inside of me. It was like my happy feelings about the pregnancy were hiding the sad ones. The fact that Olive's dad had left me, that I couldn't give her a father, that my dad wouldn't be able to meet my daughter and the most terrible one was a feeling of being a failure. I had failed my dad by not doing what he wanted me to, to get married and do things right."_

"_Oh Sum…"_

"_So then Olive was born and I felt in love with her. She was perfect. I felt this immense love towards her and then it happened. My depression came back. At first I thought it was just post partum depression and that it would soon go away but it didn't. I would force myself to feed her, but I couldn't bring myself to hold her and just be with her. I would block her cries out and tried to hide everything from my mom. She would come over when she could to help me with Olive, but she soon caught up with what was going on. She confronted me and said I needed to go back to my doctor. I refused and she kept pushing me so I told her she couldn't come over anymore."_

"_Did something happen with Olive?" He was scared about the prospect. _

"_No, above all I've always wanted what was best for her. I went back to my doctor the day after I told my mom not to come over anymore. Things got better from there. I got back to taking my pills everyday and I finally connected with Olive. It was as if she had been born again and I fell in love with her all over again."_

"_Okay good." He sighed with relief. "But then how did your mom took Olive from you?"_

"_She opened up a case and with all my previous records with depression it wasn't that hard to paint me as a bad mother. And in reality I am."_

"_So you don't want to get her back because you're afraid it might happen again."_

"_I know I won't neglect Olive ever again. My connection with her is too strong. What I'm afraid of is that my depression might come back and I couldn't stand my daughter to see me like that."_

"_She wouldn't because I would be by your side. I would help you if it came back."_

"_You could try but I won't let you." She said sadly. "One day it might get too bad, and I'll be just like my dad. I'm going to want to leave everything behind and that wouldn't be fair for Olive. It's better if she just takes my mom as a mother figure, that way it won't hit her as hard if something happens to me."_

_He shook his head sternly and took her by the shoulders. "Summer listen to me, nothing is going to happen to you. There's no way I would let anything happen to you. You're still taking your medication right?"_

_She nodded. _

"_Then there is no reason for you to fall back. You just have to tell me when you feel something is wrong and we'll find a way to fix it okay?"_

_She nodded again. "But I still don't feel comfortable enough to try to get Olive back."_

"_That's okay but someday you will, right?" He asked her hopefully._

"_Yes someday." She gave him her first smile of the night and he smiled back._

"_Okay good. Now I want to promise you something."_

"_T__ell me", she said confused._

"_I promise I would never ever not in a million or billion years…" She smiled at his choice of words. "leave you."_

_She hugged him. "I know you wouldn't, that is why I've trusted you with my entire life. You now know everything there is to know about me."_

"_Nothing left to try to scare me away." He said mockingly._

_She laughed. "Not a single thing left."_

--

Later that day, after spending the entire afternoon in bed talking and just being with each other like they used to, they were in the kitchen. She was holding a pot of coffee and headed to the fridge to get some milk when she spotted something on the door. It was a drawing. Olive's drawing to be exact. Three people holding hands, most likely Seth, Olive and her. On the bottom in big childlike red letters it read _I love you Mama. _She took it and stared at it, the pot forgotten in her other hand. Seth saw her and took the pot from her hand and made her sit down. She put the drawing on the table not being able to get her eyes away from it.

"Olive made it yesterday, before we picked you up from work. I thought you had already seen it." He said trying to get her attention.

"No, I hadn't." She paused, thinking. "This isn't right?"

He frowned. "What isn't?"

"She can't write. You wrote the bottom right?" She looked at him.

"Does that really look like my handwriting sweetie?" She shrugged so he continued. "She only knows a few words, she showed me yesterday. She knew how to write _I love you Mommy_, but she specifically told me she wanted to write _I love you Mama._ I showed her how and she did it."

"Oh" She went back to staring at the drawing.

"Does your head still hurt? Mine does a little. You want me to get you some aspirin?" She shook her head no. He rubbed his hand on her back sensing her uneasiness but not entirely sure why so he let it go. He then kissed her on the head and went to the cabinet to find something to eat.

"Cohen this isn't right!" She suddenly called from the table surprising him a little.

He turned to her. "What now?"

"It's not right that Olive knows how to write and I had no idea about it. We should know these things. We should be the ones helping her along the way."

"It was just a few words Summer, no big deal and I did help her."

"You did, but in two more weeks she'll know tons more and even more in another month. We keep missing these important steps in her life." Realization dawned up on her and she added. "God I'm so selfish."

"No you're not. Why do you say that?"

"All I've been doing is thinking how she would better off without me, but that isn't right. I want to be there for her along the way. I want to see her grow up every day of her life, not just two days every two weeks."

"Are you saying what I think you're saying?" He said hopefully.

"Yes! I want her back. I want my daughter back. Our daughter back." She smiled happy with her decision.

He pulled her up with him and hugged her lifting her from the ground while kissing the side of her face. "That's great Summer! We could try, and I know that we'll get her back. I'm sure my Dad is going to want to help us, but we have to do something first."

He put her down and kept his arms around her waist. "What's that?"

"You have to get better first. It wouldn't be fair for Olive to come live in a place that isn't completely happy right now. She deserves the best. And if you get better, the chances of us getting her back will be even bigger."

"I will." She had decided earlier that she would trust Seth in everything he thought would be best for them. That's why she had agreed without even a second thought. They were back on the same page.


	8. Sitting, waiting, hoping

Disclaimer: The O.C is not mine

A/N: Blame this on my frustration when other stories are not being updated.

As a random, maybe not so random thought, I saw a picture of Olive Cohen today, you know the daughter of Sacha Baron Cohen and Isla Fischer? That kid is way too cute and not only her name kind of matches this story but also her cuteness is how I picture _my_ Olive being. Also sorry is some things I've written don't match reality. And thanks.

* * *

He was shooting her glances ever since they had gotten in the car. She thought it was sweet at first but now it was starting to bug her.

"What?" She said turning to him with a smile to show him that she wasn't mad.

"It's just that I have this great feeling inside of me, like I know everything's going to be okay"

"I know what you mean, I do too." She said placing a hand on his thigh.

"And can I just say how great you look today. I love that dress on you." He put his own hand on her thigh running it up and down.

"Thanks." She said in a cutesy tone while placing her own hand on top of his.

"I want to kiss you so bad right now."

"Then why don't you?" She said flirty.

She barely finished the sentence before he had her lips on her, both loving the feeling of it. Just then she felt the car swerving and quickly push him away.

"Okay never do that again, no matter how badly you want to kiss me."

"You were the one who encouraged me to do it!"

"Aw poor baby, loses all senses when a girl asks him to kiss her." She cooed.

"Not any girl, my girl."

When he dropped those lines then she became the one to lose all senses. She brought her face closer to his kissing his right ear. When she felt a groan come out of his mouth she moved to his neck placing tiny kisses all over it.

"I seriously need to pull over right now or we'll crash any minute now."

"Don't", she said while moving her hand to his thigh. "We're gonna be late, we don't have time to pull over."

"It's better to be late, than to not get there at all."

She stopped and pulled away giving in to his need to pull over. She saw as he sped up until he parked in the first space he spotted.

"Finally", she said mockingly and shrieked when he launched at her to capture her lips in his.

He was soon making her dress ride up with his hand roaming through her upper leg. He was kissing her feverishly and she was getting into it with her own hands running through his hair and his back. She had to stop when she felt his hand trying to pull down the zipper on the back of her dress.

"Easy there hormone boy." She said pushing him a few inches away from her body. He gave her a look and went back to kissing her neck while mumbling how beautiful she was.

This time she had to remove his face from its place on her neck. "I think you've had enough, we need to go now babe."

He gave her a groan in response and tried to kiss her back but all he got was the palm of her hand.

"One more kiss and I might not be able to stop." She said as an explanation.

"That might not be such a bad thing." He said with a grin. "Besides we haven't in sooo long."

She gasped as an effect of his exaggeration. "Come on it hasn't been _that _long."

"Two weeks!"

"Two weeks is so not that long."

"It is for us…"

"Then what do you suggest? That we do it in the middle of the street so every passerby can see us."

"Yes! And it is not the middle of the street, it's the side of it."

She gave him a glare, and he knew that was the end of it. "Yeah okay, we should get going anyway. But can we? When we get back?" He said giving her his best puppy dog eyes.

"Maybe", she said not being able to resist him.

He cheered up at her words "Promise?"

"I promise." She said and he turned triumphantly to put the car in drive. And just because she couldn't let him win she added "that maybe we will."

She got another groan from him and she had to stifle a laugh at his obvious suffering.

* * *

"So how have you been doing Summer?" Her doctor of more than ten years asked her.

She shook her head "Not so good, these past few months have been really hard." She looked at Seth and he squeezed her hand reassuringly.

"I'm sorry to hear that but I'm going to do everything I can to help you."

They both nodded.

"Okay so let's go over the basics. Do you feel like your medication stopped working at all?"

"Um… well… see the thing is…" She hesitated.

"You need to tell me Summer."

"Yes tell her how you feel sweetie." He piped in, making her focus on him.

She knew her answer would draw more questions, not only from her doctor, but from Seth as well. She was already here with two people staring at her, there was definitely no way she could back out now. "I kind of stopped taking it."

"Okay, but did you kind of stop taking it or did you stop completely?"

"I stopped completely." She turned to Seth who was staring at the same spot with an uneasy look on his face.

"Was it making you feel bad? Or did you feel like it wasn't working anymore?"

"Why?" Seth said snapping out of his trance.

Summer squeezed his hand again and decided she had to answer her doctor first. "No, none of that, it was actually working fine."

As soon as she finished she felt Seth drop her hand. "So let me get this straight. Your medication was working fine but you still decided it would be a good idea to suddenly stop taking it." He said confused.

"It's not like that", she said reaching out to touch his arm to which he pulled away.

"Then tell me how it is."

She opened her mouth a few times but no words seemed to be coming out. Seth couldn't take it anymore so he stood up.

"Excuse me, I need to get out of here." He then looked at the doctor and wished her a good day. "I'll wait for you in the car" He directed to Summer before walking out.

"Seth!" He heard her but decided it would be better to ignore it.

* * *

Seth drove back to their place in silence. She kept looking at him, but his eyes stayed on the road. It was more than clear that he wasn't just angry he was pissed off. If he was angry all he wanted to do was talk and ramble nonstop, but when he was past angry he would shut himself out and ignore everything and everyone around him. They got to the house and he put the car on park, but didn't turn it off. She was waiting for him to do so, but he kept staring right ahead of him so she decided to open the door.

He still wasn't moving so she asked him "Aren't you coming in?"

He shook his head no.

"Come on Seth", she touched his arm, but he moved it away.

"Please Summer just get out." He said coldly and not turning to her.

"I understand that you're angry, but I can explain. I know I should have done it before but I'm ready now. I'll tell you everything I promise."

He just heard until the angry part, ignoring her wanting to explain everything. "I'm more than angry right now Summer, I'm so angry that I've been fighting the urge to yell ever since I got out of the doctor's office. So please go into the house, and I'll be back later."

"You're leaving? Where are you going?" She really wanted him to stay so they could talk. She felt that she needed to get out the last thing she hadn't told him. It had felt good to finally talk to the doctor, but the only person she really wanted to know everything was Seth. She didn't want him to leave and keep wondering what the real reasons behind everything were. She knew that everything he could imagine wouldn't be right. She was also scared that he might give up on her, and that would be her worst fear come true.

"You didn't seem to care enough to tell me where you were going every time you went missing for hours." This is why he didn't want to talk because he didn't want to say hurtful things to her. But he felt it was her fault for not letting him go when he had asked her to. "But I'm not like that, I'm not telling you not because I don't want to, but because I don't know. All I know is that I need to get away."

"Please don't go." She didn't know what else to say, the only thing she knew is that he wanted him to stay. He needed him to stay.

"Was it because it would have been a year soon to make good on your promise? Do you not want me to be Olive's legal father?" He hadn't even realized until yesterday that it had been almost a year since she had promised him that if everything was okay with her for a year, she would then felt confident and ready enough to try to get Olive's custody back. She had then told him that if they got her back, she wanted him to adopt Olive and give her his last name. He had been over the moon when she told him that, but then he thought that a year was way too long so he kept insisting on it every chance he got. To him waiting a year was just her way of postponing going through a trial once again, because she had been overall fine since he had met her. He hadn't ever seen her going through this up until three months ago when everything began to change. He was starting to think that she had chosen to be this way so she wouldn't have to keep the promise she had made to him.

"If you really believe that then I was wrong to think that you know me at all. Go, because I'm the one who needs to calm down now so I don't yell at you for being the jerk that you're being right now." She got out and slammed the door on the car that drove away as fast as possible.

* * *

_This is what she always did. This is where she always ended up. It had become a habit for her. Get off work, drive to the cemetery, leave her cell phone in the car so she wouldn't feel bad when she saw that he kept calling her, and stare at her father's grave sometimes for minutes, sometimes for hours. She had thought once she was over all of this just to realize that she never was. _

_When she felt it was time to leave, she would get back in the car and listen to the voice mails he usually left her. If he sounded too worried about her whereabouts she would sometimes skip her next stop and drive back home. But that almost never happened._

_After that, she would drive to her mother's house and just seat outside the window that led to the living room and to her baby's room upstairs. She would listen to her voice, her laugh, her rambling and almost feel happy and relieved to see that she was okay. _

_But when she cried, she felt everything was falling apart. She wanted to burst through the door, hold her and tell her everything was okay, she was there; she would always be there for her._

_It was even worst when she heard her calling for her through her cries. When it got bad enough her mom would let Olive call her. She would have to back away from the window and pretend she wasn't there, right outside the house listening to everything that was happening. She would tell her to calm down, to be good for her grandma, "Friday will come soon enough baby, I love you more than anything else in the world". She would pretty soon calm down, most of the time, and she would say she loved her _

_back. Then she would ask to talk to her daddy. She had to lie and say he was in the shower, or he had gone to the store, or he was sleeping. To which she would reply "wake him up", like it was the most obvious thing to do._

"_Daddy's tired Bee." Daddy wasn't tired. He was going crazy with her absence. Not exactly the most adequate response you could give to a child. So she would say goodbye and once again reassure her love for her. She would hang up and be proud when she could hear her baby going back to her sweet ways. It wasn't that her mom was bad with her daughter. She was actually really good with her. Even better than she thought she could ever be, but Olive always seemed to find a way to want her mother more than she wanted her grandmother._

_She couldn't help but feel a sense of relief when she realized her daughter needed her above anyone and anything. Even in the most random and silly moments, she would remember her "Mama always says this, or Mama taught me that, or Mama would like this movie."_

_But then she would once again feel bad because her daughter was too dependable on her. It was supposed to be normal, a daughter relying on her mother, but the current situation was anything but normal. She had tried not to be that person for her. As much as she wanted to make good on her promises to her, she knew she might not always be there for her. But she also knew that she could never deny her daughter's needs and love for her. So she kept trying to be the best mom she could and maybe one day she would get the courage to get back what was always rightfully hers._

* * *

She wasn't sure if she had been sleeping or just lost in her thoughts, but she sat up from her current place on the couch as soon as she heard the door opening.

She had calmed down when he left after talking to Olive which usually did the trick. She could be in the most terrible mood but when she heard her daughter's voice a smile would immediately appear on her face. She had needed a reminder that this was all for her family. There wasn't any need to hide stuff anymore which is why she had decided to stay up and wait for him to come back.

He looked tired but the anger had left his face. This made her even more eager to talk to him. She saw it. He saw it.

"I'm listening."

She walked over to him, put her hand in his and led him to the couch.


	9. Sorry and I Love You

Disclaimer: It's not mine.

AN: I had a really bad case of writer's block, but I finally got around it and finished this chapter. I started classes again today, so hopefully I'll get some time to write and if I do I hope my writer's block will be gone. Also sorry if some medical facts don't match up, I did my best. I think this is my shortest ever AN, so I'm kind of proud. Thanks.

* * *

"I'm just gonna let you talk and try my hardest to be quiet here. You know that won't easy for me and I don't even know if it's possible but I'll try. I'm asking you this though, please just tell me everything. I'm being honest here, I don't think I can handle living like this anymore, with you telling me just half truths or sometimes not telling me anything at all. I was so happy these past couples of days because you talked to me, _we_ were finally talking and then I have it all blow up on my face today.

I don't know when or even why you stopped trusting me. It hurts that you don't because for me there is no one else I would want to go to when I'm happy, or sad or anything really. If I'm happy I want to hug you and for you to smile with me just so I can be even happier. If I'm confused I want you to be the one to clear my head. If I'm angry I want you to calm me down, even if you were the one who made me angry in the first place. If I'm sad I want you to be the one to draw a smile back on my face. And above all I want to do the exact same thing for you.

So please tell me this: will I ever be able to draw a smile on your face every day like I used to?"

She had sat there crossed-legged in front of him waiting for him to say that they were over, that he had had enough. But he didn't and for that she felt relieved.

When he was finished she rested her cheek against the couch and smiled at him. This was the answer she was giving him; he would always make her smile.

He did the same and then ran his fingers over the top of her head. "You can talk now. I swear I'll be as quiet as I can be."

"Okay. I have a lot to say so please be patient, because I'm willing to tell you everything and I need to do it in a way you'll understand everything I have to say."

He nodded.

"I love you. I've loved you ever since I met you and I know this is for good and I won't ever stop loving you. I've said some mean things and I've made you feel like you're not worth it. I've pushed you away, I've made you worry about me through entire nights without an explanation, I've made you worry period.

And I hate myself when I do it because you don't deserve it. I even made you stop writing; you can't even write anymore."

"That's not important."

"Yes it is, because it's what you love."

"I'll have you know that I started writing again when I thought everything was better between us. If you're okay, I'm okay."

"I'm working on it." She paused and then continued. "When you left today, after you dropped me off, I was so concerned about you. I had all these thoughts running through my head about what you were doing, how were you feeling and when it got late I even thought something might have happened to you. That's when I realized how I had made you feel every time I didn't come home."

"As long as we're being honest, I have to admit something. Most of the time I was so scared that you might not come back that I ended up crying, as unmanly as that might sound. You only saw me two or three times because I know you hate it when I do, so I hid it from you."

"I'm so sorry", she said while reaching out to hug him.

He stopped her before she could. "No, not now. It's always like this. I hug you and comfort you, and then you cry. When you finally calm down, you pretend like nothing happened and everything goes back to the way it was, messed up. So please just tell me where you were when you didn't come home."

She looked hurt at his lack of affection but recognized the truth in his words so she let it go.

"I always went to my Dad's grave and then to my mom's house to feel a little closer to Olive. I never did try to get in; I just sat outside crying and desperately trying to feel like everything I thought was okay in my life, really was. It never did the trick though, but when I came home and saw you a part of me became alive again. I never was lying when I promised you things would get better. I truly believed that, because that's what you do to me. You make me want to be better, you make me believe that everything has an answer and every problem has a solution. I'm determined to do it. I want to be better for you. I want to be better for Olive. And you do put a smile on my face every day; even if it's a small one, it keeps me going."

"I would have been there. If you had asked me, I would have taken you to those places and be there for you. Why didn't you want me to be there for you?"

"There are some things that I don't want to put you through and that I need to do alone. But Cohen don't you get that I'm saying? You were always there for me, helping me get through every single day. It might not have been the best way and you might have not realized it, but you were still there."

"That's all I've ever wanted, to be there for you, to understand you."

"You were. And if it makes you feel any better, I don't think you'll ever really understand me. I'm a girl and you're a guy, it's normal that we don't totally get each other."

He smiled. "You know what I meant."

She nodded and he took her hand and kissed it before dropping it again.

"That's not everything is it? You still haven't told me about the other thing."

"Yes, I know. It all started that day when you went to Chicago to have that meeting with your publisher, and I had Olive with me that day."

* * *

"_I want this, and this, and this, oh and this one too." Olive was pilling up every single sweet thing she could find into her mini pink supermarket cart._

_Summer had not being paying much attention to her, focusing on getting everything she needed and listening to her voice that had to be just loud enough to know that she was still walking behind her. She realized that she had heard many wants from Olive but hadn't really seen what she had picked up._

_She turned around and saw Olive's cart overflowing with everything from cookies to cakes. _

"_And this", she said smiling proudly up at her._

"_Olive, I said you could get a couple of sweets not hundreds. Only two sweetie, you have to pick among these." She said gesturing to her full cart._

"_But I like all of these", she answered trying to bargain._

"_You can't have them all, they'll make your tummy hurt." She tried to reason. "These are your favorite cookies right?" She said pointing to a box._

_Olive nodded._

"_And you can have the chocolate cake too, but you have to share it with Daddy because it's too big for you. Okay?"_

_She nodded again._

_When she finished taking out all the candy from the cart, she continued walking making sure her now grumpy and pouting daughter was still walking behind her._

"_Sum!"_

_She was sure that had been Olive, her voice was unmistakable to her. What she wasn't sure was why she was calling her that. She walked up to where Olive had stayed behind and kneeled in front of her._

"_What did you just called me Bee?"_

"_Can I have these lollypops?" She asked ignoring her question._

_Summer took the bag from her hands and put it back on the shelf. "Did you call me Sum? Why?"_

"_It's your name. Daddy calls you that", she said like it was obvious._

"_But you've never called me that before, you call me Mama, how come?"_

"_Because Mara said so", she admitted shyly._

_Summer recognized the name Mara from the granddaughter of one of her mom's friends who sometimes had play dates with Olive. "What did she say?"_

"_She said you're not supposed to have two Mommies. I told her I had Mommy and you and she said that was wrong."_

"_It's not wrong sweetie. What else did she said to make you call me by my name?"_

"_She said that a Mommy is the person you live with, and takes you to daycare and tucks you in every night. I told her that you and Mommy did that and then she asked me who does it more often. I told her that Mommy did, so she said that meant she was my Mommy and not you. She also said I should call you by your name because you're not my Mommy."_

"_We have to go now." She picked Olive up from the floor and ignored her complaints that would quickly turn into cries. They were most likely cries for cookies, not taking notice that what she had just said was what was making her mother struggle to keep her tears in, at least until she reached the car._

_If someone had asked Summer, before this moment, if she considered herself a good or a bad mother, she would have probably said she tried to be the best she could. If someone asked her after hearing her daughter say she wasn't her mother, she would most likely say she was a failure. Even if it was the reasoning of a three year old and her five year old friend, the bottom line was that her baby thought that her grandmother was her mother instead of her. _

_She had to get out of there. She had to get home and cry in her bed, wishing Seth wouldn't have to be on a trip on this day of all days. _

_When she was about to cross the door to the store she felt someone tapping her on the shoulder. She turned to see an employee handing her Olive's pink cart that she had forgotten on the aisle. All the while Olive's screams kept getting louder, now resorting to kick her legs against her to try to get down._

_She grabbed the cart with her free hand and turned to leave when she felt the woman's hand on her shoulder again. "Excuse me, is she your daughter? She seems really agitated."_

_Feeling speechless at the woman's statement, she turned Olive just enough so the woman could see her face._

_She looked at Olive and then immediately back at her, noticing the obvious resemblance between them. "I'm sorry to have kept you. There's no doubt she's yours. You have a really beautiful daughter."_

_But she didn't hear that, all she could hear was her mind saying 'at least get to the car before you breakdown,' just before she did reach it._

* * *

_The ride was fairly quiet after Olive figured her cries weren't going to get her anything and decided to stop. _

_She called Seth in the car, and when he didn't answer, she left a message saying she needed him back. _

_Immediately regretting it, thinking about how important the meeting was for his future books, she called him back. This time she left a fairly calmed message saying everything was fine and that he should come back when he was scheduled to. She knew her second message wasn't convincing enough, that Seth would figure out something had happened to her. But at least it would keep him there as opposed to his first message that would make him want to jump on the first plane he could catch._

_When she got home, Olive had fallen asleep so she carried her up to her room. She then busied herself with making lunch only for Olive since she was anything but hungry. Olive ate in silence in a mixture of angriness and confusion caused by her mother's uneasiness. She ran out as soon as she was finished. Summer stayed behind choosing to clean everything up before she went up to talk to her._

_She found her playing quietly on her bed. Being quiet was not something Olive excelled at, and she also never played alone forcing everyone around to play with her. But she hadn't asked her to play with her which was making her think she had caused Olive to pull away from her._

"_Do you want me to play with you Olive?"_

_She shook her head no, not even looking up at her._

"_Okay. I'll be in my room if you need me." She didn't want to push her because she knew she was just as stubborn as she was. It would take a lot of talking to make Olive stop ignoring her, and she just didn't know what to say to her to make her stop._

* * *

_She woke up a little shaken up when she realized she had fallen sleep. She picked up her cell phone from her nightstand thinking about calling Seth. She saw that she had a lot of voice mails and even more missed calls from him. At first, all she had wanted was his arms around her comforting her. Then she realized he would probably try to make her feel better, reassuring her she was a great mother, and that was something she didn't want to hear right now._

_She had seen his face every time she had revealed a part of her life to him. He had been anything but supportive every time she did, but she had also seen that he started worrying too much about everything involving Olive and her. She loved him for that and for many other reasons, but sometimes she wished the Cohen she knew from when they had first started going out would come back to her._

_He eventually got over it and went back to his funny -making her laugh all the time- ways, and she intended to keep him that way. She knew it was always in the back of his mind that something might happen to her, and she wanted those thoughts to stay there. If he saw how miserable this 'incident' with Olive had made her today, his worrying would come back, and she didn't think she could deal with that. That's why she decided to start keeping some things to herself, even if all she wanted was Seth to hold her and let her be._

_She was taken out of her thoughts when she saw Olive in her doorway, looking at her weirdly, probably because she had been standing there for some time._

_Summer gave her a small smile to test her mood and patted the space next to her on the bed._

_She obviously wasn't over her temper because she shook her head no. "Is Daddy coming home soon?"_

"_Not until tomorrow morning, he's on a trip, remember?"_

"_Oh", she said trailing off._

"_Do you want to talk to him?"_

"_Yes."_

"_You can talk to me."_

"_I don't want to."_

"_Why?"_

"_Because you don't love me."_

_She was in front of her in a second, picking her up and hugging her as close as she could without hurting her. Olive was pretty much confused but hugged her back anyway, happy to have Summer hugging her again. She sat her down on the bed next to her._

"_Olive, I love you more than anything in the world. More than you can even understand now. What made you think that I didn't?"_

"_You were mean to me today and you yelled at me."_

_She probably had said something along the lines of 'stop crying' or 'be quiet' in a not so nice way earlier today. She felt bad because Olive didn't even know what she had said to make her like that, she was so innocent, and didn't deserve it._

"_I'm sorry baby. What happened was that I didn't like what you said to me, and I know it wasn't your fault because you were believing what your friend told you. Sometimes people say things without knowing the truth behind it, and Mara doesn't understand how your family works."_

"_Was she wrong?"_

"_Yes. First of all, I _am_ your mother. I carried you in my belly for 9 months, and when you were born I loved you more than I thought it possible. I took care of you every single day and I fed you and put you in bed every night just like your grandmother does now. But then something happened that made you have to go live with Mommy. That doesn't mean it was my choice to be away from you, and it certainly doesn't mean I love you any less. You did know that Mommy is your grandmother right? I had told you that before."_

"_Yes, I know that Mommy is your Mommy but I got confused when she said all that."_

"_I know you did. I also want you to know that it's okay to call your grandmother Mommy if you feel like it. You don't have to change that because it's not wrong."_

"_Can I still call you Mama?"_

"_I love it when you call me that because it reminds me that you love me. And to be honest, I don't like it when you call me Summer", she said scrunching up her nose to make her laugh._

_She did laugh, becoming happy again. "I love you Mama."_

_She gave her a big and noisy kiss on the cheek before saying "you too baby"._

"_We can call Daddy now if you want, I'm sure he'll be happy to hear our voices. Then it's time for your nap, and when you wake up we can have cookies, ok?"_

"_Okay", she answered, happily bouncing on her spot._

* * *

He was surprised when she told him what Olive had said, and he distinctively remembered he knew something had happened but she had denied it. He was also proud of her, because she seemed to have handled the situation truly well.

"You never did get over Olive saying you weren't her mother, did you?"

"No", she admitted.

"Summer, she's barely four years old; she didn't know what she was saying."

"It's true though. I haven't been a mother to her; I should have done something earlier."

"Like I've said to you before, you _are_ a mother to her. She loves you so much it's scary, and at the end of the day that's all that matters. Besides, there's really nothing we can do about the past now. It's better if we focus on today and make things right day by day."

"Yeah, I know you're right. There's one more thing. This I didn't told you because it would have freaked you out. What happened to me was a mixture of everything I've told you but it's mostly because of this."

"I won't freak out. What is it?"

"That same night you were gone, after Olive had gone to sleep, I was doing some research for work when I came across this article. It basically said that there was research that showed that some antidepressants may cause woman to become unfertile and among them was the one I was taking. I basically freaked out."

"Oh my God…", he said shocked.

"I know it's not anywhere near in the future, and I don't even know if I ever want another child. But that night I felt like I'd failed with Olive, and I thought that perhaps if we ever decided to have a baby I could do better because you would be with me. Somehow we have never discussed this, but I thought that maybe you would want one too eventually. Am I even making sense?", she said kind of frustrated.

"I want another one."

"You do?" She smiled.

"Yes, like you said, eventually. We'd have to do it right though and Olive has to be with us, but I do want a baby with you."

"I do too."

"Imagine a baby boy with my hair, wouldn't that be cute?" He said jokingly.

"Poor baby with your messy hair", she said trying to keep herself from laughing.

"Hey!"

"It would be the cutest", she said giving in.

"Glad to hear you say it. Wait! So what did your doctor say?"

"She said it might only happen when you take it for more than five years, and I had only been taking it for two."

"Okay, good."

"But I still want to check with my gynecologist, just to make sure everything's fine."

"Yeah, that's probably best. And what did she say you have to do now? Did she put you on a different medication?"

"Yes, she changed it up. I have to go get it tomorrow at the pharmacy and I start therapy next week."

"That sounds good." "You can kiss me now and hug me all you want."

"Oh can I?" She said making fun of him.

"Or I can kiss you." He kissed her and hugged her with everything he was feeling and she giggled and laughed. And it all felt amazing, knowing there was nothing more standing between.

"I love you." He whispered in her ear.

She pulled away looking into his eyes. "I love you more", she said before giving him a smile.

"No you don't."

"Yes, I do."

"I definitely love you more."

"Fine", she said before kissing him again.

She pulled away and whispered close to his lips. "But I still love you more."


	10. Figuring it out I

A/N: I know I took so long to update this, but I'm in this writing class that has me writing dozens of essay, so when I'm done with that I basically don't feel like writing any more. Yesterday, I got a really nice editor who left me a very inspiring message and made me want to continue writing this. But as it turned out, I got way too inspired and wrote 24 pages, so I decided to split this chapter in two. I'll post the second part when I get the chance to, which I'm guessing will be soon enough. This chapter has a lot of S/S and S/S/O fluff, and it's basically a filler with little advancement on the plot. I'm missing a lot of S/S stories and I hope all the writers out there get back to writing too. Thanks for the reviews for last chapter, I liked them all and they made me want to keep writing, along with the amazing words from my editor. That's it, please enjoy.

* * *

"Hey." She was still half sleep when she went to his office to find him writing. She placed her hands on his shoulders from behind and kissed the top of his head.

"Hey," he answered and turned around after closing his laptop to peck her on the lips. She smiled at him.

He pulled her closer to stand between his legs and placed his arms around her waist. "How are you?"

"I'm good. I'm feeling better, emotionally. I'm just a little queasy, like I might throw up any second now."

He pushed her back slightly. "Not on me."

"Not on you, dumbass," she said pushing her hands against his chest a little. "I'm not four, I don't go around throwing up on people."

"Four year olds don't go around throwing up on people, Summer."

"Sick four year olds do," she said like it was obvious.

"That's because they're sick. You're feeling sick, you could throw up on me."

"I could, but I wouldn't."

"You might."

"If you keep this up I might do it on purpose."

"Exactly my point."

"Why is your point so important?" She said, her tone of voice evidencing her current state.

"Because…" At the look he got from her he took back his words. "It's not," he said pulling her back to him. "I'm sorry you don't feel well. Do you think you might be getting the flu? I can run out and get you something."

She rested her head against his shoulder, groaning and shaking her head no. "It's my medication. This usually happens when I switch. I'll get used to it in some days, and if I don't, I'll have to get it switched again."

"Seriously?" She nodded against him.

"You have to go through that every time?" She nodded again.

"Is it just the nausea?"

"Sometimes it's only that, but there's been other times when I've gotten really bad headaches and basically feeling sick around the clock. There's also been other times when I get really sleepy and don't have any energy. That means that one is not working for me. But that's only happened once, the not working part. I'm actually feeling really good with this one, it's just the nausea that's really bothering me."

"So I guess going out for breakfast is out of the question."

"Yeah."

"Do you want to go back to bed? I could bring you crackers or whatever you want."

"No, I just want to stay here, I'm comfy here." She said sitting on his lap and letting him hug her.

After a few moments of silence, she said "you were writing."

"Yes, I've gotten a lot done."

"I want to see," she said trying to turn them around so she could reach his laptop.

"Let's just go watch TV or something, the reading will make you dizzy and more nauseous."

"No, it won't, that only happens when you're in a car. Come on let me see," she said reaching for the laptop again.

This time she did turn them around, but when she was going to open the lid, he stopped her by quickly placing his hand on hers and putting it back on top of her lap. "You can't."

"Why?" She said surprised at his reaction.

"Because I don't want you too," he said with his eyes cast down.

"Why are you being like this, just let me see what you've written." She did get the lid open, but he slammed it down before she could see anything.

"Are you crazy? You almost smashed my hand. I want to see, let me see." She realized she sounded completely immature, but she wanted to see his work so bad. She wanted to see how he was doing after so much time not writing anything.

"Summer, I'm being serious. You can't."

"Fine, I'll just leave you alone then." She got up somewhat defeated and somewhat angry, went to the couch and turned on the TV. She needed something to keep her mind off of her feeling bad and Seth's weirdness about his book.

He followed her when he realized he wasn't being too helpful at the moment. She wasn't feeling well and on top of that he wouldn't let her read his work without giving her an actual explanation. Summer didn't like to be told no, even less when there wasn't any reasoning behind it.

"Do you want me to watch TV with you?"

She shook her head no, her eyes glued to the screen.

"Summer…." She ignored him.

"Summer, look at me."

"What?!" She snapped.

"Are you suddenly angry with me?"

"I'm not angry. You wanted me out of your office, now I'm out and trying to watch something and you suddenly decide that you want to join me. Well, I don't want you to."

"I didn't want you out…"

"Seth," she said while placing her palm on her forehead, frustrated. "You can go, I don't mind. Go write and hopefully you won't drown in your own words."

"Is this just about the book?"

She decided it was best to go back to ignoring him.

"Summer, I won't do this again."

"Summer." He stood in front of her and out of nowhere snatched the remote out of her hands.

"Give it back." A menacing look had taken over her face.

"No," he said putting it behind his back. "Is it just about the book?"

"I swear to God I'll punch you so hard if you don't give it back now."

He really wanted to avoid her hitting him, so he just gave it back to her. She took it from his hands and tried to get him out of her vision by pushing him aside with her leg.

He crouched down so he could be at eye level with her. When she finally locked eyes with him, he asked again "is it just about the book?"

"It's not_ just_ about the book," she said giving in. "It's about the fact that you don't care what I have to say about it anymore."

"Is that what you really think? Summer, what you have to say it's the only thing that matters to me. I've gone against my editors before just so I could keep parts I know you loved. So please don't think I don't care, it's just…"

"What is it, Cohen? You can tell me."

He moved to sit next to her. "It's supposed to be a gift."

"The book?"

"Yes," he answered, looking at her. "You've had it hard since Olive was born, and there have been very happy times, but there have also been sad times. I wanted to give you something special, kind of a symbol of us making it through this, and I thought I could write this for you."

"Cohen," she cooed. "When I think there's no possible way for me to love you more, you go and prove me wrong." She finished by kissing him softly.

"But why can't I read a few chapters at least?"

"Sum, I just explained it to you."

"I know, but still, maybe I could."

"No, Summer. It's going well, and I feel like it's me going back to before I met you. Not that that was any good, but you liked my first books didn't you?"

"Of course. I guess I can wait, but you have to finish it as soon as you can. There's only so much patience I can find in me."

"I promise every moment I'm not with you or Olive, I'll write. Day or night. I'll even wake up early every morning."

This earned a laugh from Summer. "No, you won't."

"Okay, maybe I won't, but I'll write as fast as I can."

"Good."

"Are you feeling any better?"

"Not really. Stay with me okay, we'll watch a movie," she said leaning against him.

"We can watch Spiderman." He said hopefully.

"Cohen."

"Or not, whatever you want is fine."

* * *

Thankfully Summer had gotten better throughout the day, and they had decided to visit her mom.

"Are you going to tell your Mom about Olive?"

"Umm, no. I think it'll be best if I just tell her what's going on with me. I don't know how she'll react if I tell her about the custody thing, and I really don't want to fight with her at this time."

"Are you sure? Because I think she deserves to know everything. We might not have agreed with her all the time, but still, she's the one who has taken care of Olive for some time now."

"I know that. I'm just not ready yet. I want her to see that I'm doing better. Maybe if she sees that, she'll take it better when we tell her about Olive."

"Okay, if you think that'll work better."

"I do, I really do." She sounded like she was trying to convince herself more than him.

He sensed her hesitation, so he hugged her one more time before going to get ready.

* * *

"What did you want to talk to me about?"

Sitting next to her, Seth squeezed her hand reassuringly, hoping that would encourage her to talk.

It did and she squeezed it back before she started talking. "I decided to go back to my doctor a few days ago. I wasn't doing so well these past few months."

"I could tell and I'm happy that you're getting help. What triggered it this time?"

"A lot of small things piling up together."

"What happened?"

She shook her head to tell her she didn't feel like sharing that information. It had been hard enough to share it with Seth, and her relationship with her mom wasn't exactly too good to begin with, making her not want to tell her about it even more.

"Why would you tell me, you've never talked to me, not even when you were younger."

"Why would you bring that up?" She said rising her voice, to which Seth tried to calm her down by rubbing her hand.

"When will you understand that all I ever wanted was for you to be okay, to not end up like your father did."

"Dad has nothing to do with this conversation right now," she said getting exasperated.

"Then tell me what was wrong with you."

"I don't want to!" She said, this time yelling and standing up.

"Don't yell in here. Olive can wake up."

For a moment there, she had forgotten what she came here for. She was doing this for Olive. She wanted her to grow up and still have a relationship with her grandmother. She didn't want Olive to be back with them, and for her mom and her to be on bad terms. She truly wanted to create some sort of relationship with what she had left of her parents.

Seth too had reacted when she had mentioned Olive. He didn't want her to wake up and listen to them yelling and fighting, so he decided to finally say something. "Look, Katherine, Summer and I came here to patch things up a little. She's trying to tell you what she thinks is necessary; you can't really blame her for not feeling comfortable enough to tell you everything. She's having a hard time, and you should appreciate her coming here to talk to you." He finished, placing his hand in Summer's, making her sit next to him again.

She was surprised at his words and decided to back up her approach. "I do appreciate it Summer, I'm sorry if I was too harsh." She said, directing her attention back to her.

She nodded, amazed at Seth's words and her mom's attitude change.

"Mama!"

The three of them turned towards the stairs expecting to see Olive there.

"She probably just woke up from her nap. She doesn't know you're here, sometimes she wakes up and calls for you."

This earned a shocked look from Summer, she turned to Seth who smiled sadly in return.

"Sometimes she calls for you too when she doesn't remember she's with us." She said when she found the strength to talk.

Katherine smiled back in return and stood up. "I'm going to see what she wants, but she must have fallen sleep again or else she wouldn't be so quiet."

When she came back, she found Seth and Summer with their arms around each talking almost in a whisper.

"Maybe we should just go. I don't want to see Olive crying for me. She'll want to come with us, and I can't tell her she can't."

"Okay, but don't you want to say goodbye to your mom?"

"I'll call her later from the car."

He stood up, taking her hand to pull her up as well. They noticed that Katherine was standing behind them with Olive in her arms. "She's sleeping, you can come see her."

Summer walked towards her and ran her hand over Olive's back before giving her a kiss on the side of her face. "We're gonna get going," she said almost inaudibly, trying to keep her voice from breaking.

Seth came close to her and did the same with Olive but kissing her one more time than she had.

Summer was almost out the door when she heard her mom calling out for her. "Do you want to take her?"

Her face immediately lit up. "Can we?" She said confused.

"It could do you good," she said before handing her over to Summer.

They were both stunned. This had never happened before, which made them even more grateful for what she was doing.

She motioned for Seth to take Olive and hugged her mom.

Katherine was taken aback with this, but took the opportunity to hug her back. They both couldn't remember the last time they had hugged each other. It was probably around the time Olive had been born, and her mom had been really proud to see her daughter was now a mother.

When they pulled back, she asked "Olive is always telling me to call her Bee. Where did she get that from?"

"Seth started calling her that, and now we both do. We call her Bee more than her name."

"Yeah, it kind of was my fault. Sorry."

"Oh no, don't be, I think it suits her. She is very small after all. I was just wondering where she had gotten the name from. You guys should go, make sure to bring her back tomorrow evening."

"Ok. Thanks Mom, really."

"We really appreciate it," Seth said.

"Don't worry about it. I'll see you guys tomorrow."

* * *

"What are you doing?"

She found him kneeling on the floor next to Olive's bed, just watching her.

"Don't you think she looks cute?" He said, directing his attention towards her.

"She always looks cute."

"But today she's especially cute." He added while gently running his hand over Olive's head, careful not to wake her up.

She focused her attention on Olive and smiled for a second. "Yes, she looks very cute. Now come on, get out, you're going to wake her up."

"And she has a pout on, just like you do when you're sleeping."

"You're starting to creep me out. Now seriously, get out, or I'll have to take you out myself."

"You can't do that." He said grinning and then turned around to watch Olive again.

"Seth!" She said exasperated and then lowered her voice when she remembered why she wanted him out of the room. "She always knows when someone is in the room. She'll get in a bad mood if she wakes up and I want her happy today."

"I'll be out in a couple of minutes."

Since reasoning wasn't doing much in her favor, she tried the next best thing. "You can kiss this pout if you come here now." She said while slightly leaning against the door frame.

Of course that had to work since he was in front of her in less than second. "You know, that didn't sound too sexy."

"It wasn't supposed to. But it got you here didn't it?"

"Yeah it did." He leaned down for a kiss but all he got was her cheek.

"Hey!" He said pulling back.

She slapped him hard on the chest, making him wince. "You seriously didn't think I would let you kiss me after practically begging you to do something with a legitimate reason." She grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the doorway before closing the door behind her.

"If I catch you in here again while she's still sleeping, I'll seriously kick your ass." She said while walking away.

"Oh come on Sum, don't be mad." He trailed behind her.

"Don't make me angry then."

He caught up with her, grabbing her by the waist and kissing her hair. "You're not really angry with me, are you?"

She giggled when he moved his kisses to the side of her head. "No," she answered and turned half-way around before planting a kiss on his lips.


	11. Figuring it out II

Disclaimer: The O.C. is not mine.

Here's the second part of the previous chapter. I have to say that this is just me having fun with Olive because I love her character, and also to show how much they love her and the relationship they have with her, not that that wasn't clear, but still. It starts right after last chapter finished so everything is on the same day. I also decided to post this today because my birthday is tomorrow so I figured that called for a happy chapter. I had fun writing this and I hope you'll have fun reading it as well. Thanks for the reviews for last chapter.

* * *

"Look who's up?" Olive was rubbing the sleep from her eyes while holding onto Seth's hand. They found Summer reading a magazine on the couch.

"Bee!" She squealed when she saw her walking towards her.

"Mama!" She squealed just as high.

After the hugs and kisses, Olive asked "why am I here? It's not Friday yet."

"No, it's not. Mommy said we could bring you over and get you back tomorrow."

"I'm sleeping over?"

"Yes, baby," Summer answered her.

She turned to Seth who was standing behind them, smiling happily at the sight. "Come Daddy, you haven't kissed me yet."

"I haven't?" He mocked surprise.

"No." He went to her and gave her the same amount of hugs and kisses Summer had given her.

"You look really pretty today, Bee. I like that headband on you."

"Mama got it for me."

"Good choice, Mama," he said looking over at Summer.

"You can't expect any less from me. My daughter is the most fashionable kid out there."

"I am," Olive agreed, grinning up to Seth.

"Do you even know what that means, sweetie?" He asked.

"No, but if Mama says it it's true."

"Yes, Seth, Mama's always right," she stated before pulling Olive onto her lap and kissing her.

"My hair is tangled, fix it." Olive said while running her little fingers through her hair.

"Fix it, _please_," Seth corrected her.

"Fix it, please, Mama."

"I'll do it," Seth piped in before Summer could answer.

Olive gave him a skeptical look, followed by a pleading one to Summer to which she responded by laughing. "Daddy will do it for you, Bee. I'm going to take a shower so we can go to the park, okay?"

"No."

"Yes, Bee." She then turned to Seth who had gone and come back, a brush now in his hand and an eager look on his face. "Just brush through it, don't try anything weird like last time, no braids, not even a pony tail," she said warningly.

"I won't," he answered now coming closer to Olive who seemed to be frightened and backed away.

"Seriously, Seth, you scared her bad enough last time." It had taken a lot of conditioner, screaming, and crying to fix the huge tangled mess that Seth had done to her hair last time. He was supposed to do a pony tail, but it had turned out as nothing like it.

"He won't do anything weird, baby." She placed a kiss on top of her head and went into her bedroom.

* * *

Throughout her shower all she heard were screams from Olive and nags from Seth. She put the towel around herself before running out after hearing a higher than normal shriek from Olive.

"No!" Seth screamed annoyed.

"Yeeeeeeees!" Olive shrieked once again.

Olive was standing on the couch with the brush over Seth's head, and he was trying to avoid it touching his head. "Olive, what's wrong? You have to stop with the screaming, the same goes for you, Cohen."

"Thank God, Summer, she wants to do my hair, but she's making it all fluffy and crazy."

"What did you do to her?"

"Nothing, I swear. Olive, show her your hair."

Olive, who was still trying to brush his hair with him swatting her away, turned to Summer so she could see her. She had her hair parted to the side and it looked all nice and smooth.

"Baby, you look so pretty. Did you thank Daddy for doing it nicely?"

"I know. I said thanks. I want to make his look pretty too."

She turned to Seth again with her brush, and he whined "Sum, help me, please."

She noted that his hair did look crazier than normal, probably from Olive's work, so she took pity on him. "Bee, you can do my hair. I'll go get dressed and you can come in and brush it, okay? Let Daddy go."

"No! Your hair is already pretty. It always looks pretty when you do it. Daddy needs my help to make it pretty too."

"Oh, sweetie, that is such a nice thing to say to me. Thank you. I love you, baby," she said before kissing her cheek, melting with her words.

She then kissed Seth on the cheek too and ruffled his hair with her hand. "Cohen, let your daughter do your hair."

At this, Olive perked up and grinned up to Seth holding up the brush in her hand again. "Can I?"

"Fine," he answered defeated.

* * *

When she came out all ready to go out, she saw Seth brooding on the couch with Olive on his lap, happily watching a Disney movie. She had to keep in her laughter when she saw the hairstyle that Olive had come up with for Seth. She had parted his hair down the middle, flattening it and somehow she had made the ends stick out, very grandpa Munster-like. Blame that on him making her watch the Munsters a few weeks ago.

Seth didn't seem happy at all and was ignoring her being in the room. When he saw that she was about to say something, he stopped her "don't even say it."

"What?" She answered innocently.

"Whatever it is you are going to say."

"I was just going to say that I'm ready and we can leave now. If you thought I was going to say something about your hair, then…"

"Don't."

Olive, who had been too focused on the movie, sat up when she heard the word hair. "You like Daddy's hair?" she said, pointing to his hair.

"Yes, babe, I think you should do his hair more often. Come," she extended her hand so she could take it "let's go."

"I think I'm just going to stay here. You girls go, have fun," Seth said from his place in front of the TV.

"Why?" Summer and Olive said at the same time.

"Ummm," he said thinking of a quick excuse. "I have some work to get done."

"You don't work, Daddy."

Summer laughed next to her, and then looking at Seth, stopped. "Daddy is a writer, remember Olive? That's his job."

"Oh, yes, that. Let's go," she said trying to pull him up and ignoring what he had just said about not going.

"No, Bee, I'm staying here, you and your mom can go. I'll be here when you come back."

"Cohen, what's this about?" Summer asked confused.

He pointed to his hair, trying not to let Olive notice what was bothering him.

"That? Don't be silly, no one will notice."

"No one will notice what?" Olive asked.

"Nothing," they said in unison.

"I'm not going," Seth repeated.

"You don't like your hair," Olive said sadly.

"That's not it, Bee, my hair is perfect," he said quickly.

"Okay," she said getting over it, "let's go."

Summer twirled Olive around her legs in a playful manner to distract her, and then covered her ears before quickly whispering towards Seth. "Seth, she's proud of what she did, you can't take that away from her. Look how excited she is about going out with us, including you and your crazy hair." She took her hands away from Olive's ears and turned her around so Seth could see her smiling.

She did look overwhelmingly happy. Seth would take public embarrassment everyday if it meant Olive would be happy, so he picked her up and kissed her. "Let's go, Bee, I can work later."

Summer mouthed a 'thank you' to him, and they were out the door.

* * *

Seth was getting Olive ready for bed, but failing miserably because she kept insisting they had a lot more playing to do. Summer went into Olive's room to say goodnight, but realized she was nowhere near sleep.

"What are you guys doing?"

"Playing," they answered. Apparently this game consisted of them poking each other and laughing each time they did so. Summer smiled at their interaction and then decided to ask something that had been on her mind for some days now.

"Olive, I want to ask you something," she said sitting her up, trying to get the poking to stop.

"Yes."

"I haven't even asked you yet."

"Yes," she repeated and then poked Seth on the ribs, which made him laugh and made him poke her back.

Summer was getting annoyed so she took Olive's hand and pushed Seth away. "Cohen, I want to ask her something."

"Okay," he said and tried to poke her. She pushed him away again instead of laughing like he was expecting. She turned to Olive.

"Olive, listen to me." Olive had gone back to the poking and Seth kept encouraging it with his laughs.

"Olive," she said, this time sternly.

This got her attention and she stopped and looked at her. "Yes, Mama."

"Do you like it when you come here?"

"Yes," she said, swinging her legs on the side of the bed. Seth next to her wondered why she was asking her that.

"Do you like it when you're at Mommy's?"

"Yes." Of course she did, Summer thought. It was where she spent most of her time. She didn't know why she had expected her to say she didn't, deep down she was glad she did. If she didn't, that meant her daughter was unhappy, and she couldn't ever wish for that. But she had expected her to say something to clear up her doubts and make her want to do what she knew she had to.

Seth seeing her lost in her thoughts, and Olive staring at her confused, decided to try to get the attention away from her.

Summer snapped out of her daze when she heard Olive laughing hysterically again and Seth causing it by making sounds against her cheek. He was acting terribly childish, which was his usual self, but somehow she wished he could sense why that brief conversation with Olive had bothered her so much.

"I'm kind of tired, I'm just going to let you guys keep having fun with each other. Cohen, make sure she goes to sleep soon, no more than thirty minutes, okay?" She said dully.

"Yeah, okay," he answered, looking at her with a worried expression.

She gave Olive a quick kiss and wished her goodnight before walking out of the room.

She was almost out of hearing range when she heard Olive calling out for her. She came back in the room and Olive said shyly "sometimes when I'm at Mommy's, I miss you and Daddy."

"You do?"

She nodded "sometimes I cry too, and Mommy says you love me and Friday will come soon."

"Sometimes it doesn't feel soon enough, right?"

Olive nodded and Summer hugged her, trying to stay strong. Seth joined in the hug and told Olive he missed her too.

"Would you like to come here more often, stay with us longer than you do now? Summer asked after the hug.

Olive nodded happily and Summer smiled back at her. Seth noted how this was the happiest he had seen her in a long time. "Daddy and I are going to try to make that happen," Summer said.

Seth whispered something in Olive's ear, and before Summer could register it she was tackled to the floor with Seth and Olive attacking her with kisses.

She was laughing and trying to push them off when Seth placed his hands in each side of her face, locking eyes with her. "You got your answer, didn't you?"

"Yeah," she answered. He did know what had been bothering her minutes earlier. He did know, he always knew.

He kissed her on the lips, lingering longer that he had intended it to. Besides them, a shrieking "nooooooooooo" came from Olive.

They both stopped the kiss and looked at her puzzled. She usually didn't care when they kissed in front of her.

"Kiss me, Mama, not Daddy."

They both laughed before kissing her until the laughing tired her out.


	12. Hold my hand harder, ease my mind

A/N: Sorry about the long wait...again. I have no excuses. Actually I do but I figured why bother you with them. I wrote an extra long chapter to make up for it. The title is from the Killers.

Not much left of this story. I think 2 or 3 more chapters. I already wrote the last one so it's a matter of getting the time for writing the ones in between. I hope you enjoy this chapter, and thanks for the reviews on the previous chapter.

* * *

_Hold my hand harder, ease my mind._

Two weeks later…

"Olive, come back here."

She reluctantly stopped her running and turned to Summer. "Ma-ma," she said dramatically.

"Come, please," she told her extending her hand.

"But I want to see Daddy's room."

"You've seen it hundreds of times, Bee," Seth interjected.

"But I wanna see it again," she said whining.

"Oh, sweetie, don't be so dramatic. I'll take you when we finish talking to grandpa Sandy, okay?" Summer told her sweetly before pulling her on top of her lap.

"I'll take her, Summer," Kirsten said coming into the room.

"You don't have to. You should stay here while we talk. She's just been cranky because she missed her nap today."

"You guys should talk here alone. I don't mind. She can see it and then maybe she can take a nap. You guys are staying for dinner, right?"

Summer nodded at her question and Kirsten continued "Bee, you want me to show you Daddy's room."

Olive turned to Summer excitedly, "can I, Mama?"

"Sure, baby, just be good for Grandma. Daddy and I will be here if you need us."

"Okay, love you," she said sprinting out her lap and taking Kirsten's waiting hand to go up the stairs.

"Now that crazy baby girl is probably destroying your comics, we should talk. First of all, Summer, how are you doing?"

Not one to talk, Summer had asked Seth to tell their parents what had being going on with her. They already knew about her earlier problems, but the most recent ones were unknown to them. Seth had told them everything, or at least what he thought Summer would like them to know, and then he had asked advice from his Dad from his lawyer's perspective on the Olive situation. That's why they were now sitting in the Cohen's living room ready to talk about them.

"I'm good, not completely well yet, but good nonetheless. I'm still not completely adjusted to my meds, but everything is working itself out and now we're looking into getting Olive back with us."

"Okay, I'm glad to hear that. About Olive, what do you want?"

"Full custody. We want her back completely, and Seth is going to legally adopt her," Summer answered.

"So she's finally going to be a Cohen in name, since she's already one in everything else. I'm proud of you guys, this was long overdue."

"Yeah, I know. That's mainly because of me," Summer said somewhat embarrassed.

"Hey, Summer," Seth said next to her. "Summer," he repeated, touching her knee to get her to look at him, "none of that."

She nodded and turned to Sandy who was in front of them. "What should we do? How long can this take? We have no idea where to begin from."

"We open up the case again. Then they'll want to know if you're okay to take care of Olive again. Basically some home visits and the judge will decide what's best. Best case scenario you'll get her back, and then we'll proceed with the adoption. The only problem can be your mom. How does she feel about this?"

Seth and Summer looked at each other, and Summer told him with her eyes it was okay for her to answer this. "She doesn't know."

"Oh...Well, are you planning on telling her soon?"

"We haven't decided yet. Summer doesn't feel the time is right."

"Can I give you my opinion, Summer?"

"Yes, please. I think we need it."

"You need to tell her, and you need to do it soon. You seem like you're eager to do this, but you should do it right. Talk to your mom about it, she deserves to know. I know I would want to know if I was in her position."

"You don't understand. My relationship with her is not like what you and Kirsten have with Seth. We can't talk more than a few minutes because we start fighting. Since she took Olive away from me, I haven't been able to have a real relationship with her. The other day, Seth and I went to talk to her and it was turning into a fight as soon as I started talking. If it wasn't for Seth being there, I don't know what we would have said to each other. The situation is very hard."

Seth pulled her closer to soothe her. He hated that she was fine one minute and the next she thought about her mom and she became sad again. He knew this meant her main issue right now, besides Olive being away from them, was her relationship with her mom. That was the one thing he couldn't fix. This needed to come from Summer and he wasn't going to push her into something she was struggling with. He was actually glad when his Dad brought it up and knew that some progress had been made when she was talking so openly about it.

"I know you came here for my legal advice, but right now, Summer, please forget that. I love you like a daughter for how happy you've made Seth, for that beautiful little girl upstairs you gave us as a granddaughter, and for you."

Summer nodded, tears building up in her eyes overwhelmed by his words.

"I think you should give your mom some credit. Try to relate the love you have for Olive to the love she must have for you. A parent can't stop loving their child and wanting them to be as happy as they can be. That's why I think if you talk to her she might want to give you Olive back. If she realizes how well you're doing, she'll want your family back together. Make sure she knows you won't try to keep Olive away, and everything might just work out."

She put her head to her hand and sighed "I'm not so sure."

"Summer, trust me, you should try. If it doesn't work then I'll go talk to her. Ask Seth, I can be very persuasive."

"Yeah, Sum, he can," he nodded, remembering all the time he had persuaded him into doing the right thing.

"And as a last resort, we'll let Seth talk to her. We both know he can talk a lot, but not say much in the process, so I think it's best if we leave him as our last option."

This earned a faint laugh from Summer and a scoff from Seth.

"In all seriousness, Summer, do that. If all else fails we'll go with the legal process, but one way or the other, I'm promising you, you'll get Olive back."

"Okay, I'll do it. Thank you, Sandy" she said and almost instantly her hand flew to her mouth.

"What?" Seth turned to her.

She shook her head no and rested back on the couch. Sandy was looking confused between both of them.

"You're nauseous," Seth told her while taking her hair out of her forehead. "Go lie down with Olive and I'll come get you when dinner's ready."

She nodded again and stood up. "Thanks again," she said to Sandy and hugged him before going up the stairs.

* * *

"Hey, dinner's ready," Seth said coming into his old room where Summer was -as he assumed- sleeping, only to find her wide awake.

She nodded, laying on her side and looking at him. Seth immediately noticed her sullen face.

"What's wrong?"

She just stared at him. He sat on the floor so he could be face to face with her. "Are you feeling any better?"

"I threw up like ten minutes ago." At his worried look she added, "at least the queasy feeling is gone," she said attempting a smile.

"Sum," he said reaching for her hand." You haven't even eaten all day. This medicine is wearing you down; you need to get it changed."

"I don't want to. Besides the throwing up and the lack of appetite everything else actually feels better."

He gave her a puppy dog look in hopes of persuading her.

She responded by running her hand through his cheek comfortingly. "No, Cohen. Let's give it a little more time. It'll all go back to normal soon."

"Okay," he replied, giving in. "You want to try to eat something?"

"Not really."

"Come on, Summer. At least try."

"I don't think I can do it," she blurted out.

"What? Eat?" He sounded confused.

"No," she whined. She switched the subject rather abruptly but she still expected him to know what she meant.

"Your mom?"

"Yes," she confessed.

"I can go with you. We can talk about what you want to tell her. It'll be fine, honey."

"She won't take it well," she said shaking her head.

"She might."

"Ugh!"

"What?!" They had already had this conversation before and he was getting tired of telling her her mom would take it well. Everything would be fine. It was what she expected him to say, and he didn't like saying it because in all truthfulness he had no idea what Katherine would do when she found out about them wanting Olive back. He wanted to think it would be okay, but he wasn't so sure about it.

"Don't you get how important it is to me that she doesn't freak out when I tell her?"

"I get it, Summer, but there's nothing I can do about that. What do you want me to say? I already said I would help you through it, there's not much else I can do besides helping you."

"There _is_ something you could do."

"Tell me."

"You could say I don't have to talk to her," she said cautiously.

"I can't do that, Sum."

"Yes, you can," she answered stubbornly.

"I won't do it," he exhaled and tried to think how to approach this before continuing. "Look, Summer, I've known since more than two years ago when you told me about your mom that this is something that is not letting you go on with your life. I've bitten my tongue about it because I didn't want to force you to do anything you didn't want to, but now I'm asking you to _please_ try to fix your relationship with your mom. You can't be happy because of it, and there's nothing I can do about that. This is all you, Sum, you have to do it for yourself. Don't even think about me, or Olive, this is about you and you being okay."

"I can't just pretend it's all about me. You've said it yourself, what I do or how I feel affects our family, you, Olive and me."

"Even better then, you can do it for us," he replied smiling and putting his hand on her waist to bring her closer to the edge of the bed, closer to him.

"I didn't realize this meant so much to you. Why didn't you tell me before?"

"Because… I didn't want it to come from me; I didn't want you to feel pressured. I always figured you would do it in your own time, but now that my Dad brought it up I realized how important it is that you do this.

"I don't kn…" Seth cut her off reaching for a kiss but Summer gently, but quickly pushed him away.

"No! I haven't brushed my teeth. I told you I just threw up."

"I don't mind," he said, and got close to her face again.

She pushed him away like before. "Yes, you do. You were the one who almost threw up when you went into the bathroom earlier today after I had thrown up, and may I remind you this was post flushing the toilet."

He scrunched up his face when he remembered that moment, but when he saw her face smiling up at him proud to be right, he pressed his lips against hers surprising her so she couldn't push him off her.

He pulled away, scrunching up his face once again. "That's how much I love you," he said before wiping his mouth with his right hand quickly, as she wouldn't notice…

"That's not how much you love me considering you just wiped your mouth after the kiss, and I don't even want to talk about the disgusted face you just gave me."

"Ummm," he said racking his brain for an excuse.

"I'm right," she said, cutting his train of thought.

"You're not," he replied and kissed her again, this time the kiss felt deep and meaningful.

She pulled back for air with honest happiness etched on her face. "Fine!"

"Fine what?"

"I'll do it. I'll talk to my mom. I'll try my best to sort things out."

"Yes, Summer, I'm so proud of you."

"Yeah, yeah," she said dismissively and stood up. "Let's go downstairs and see if I can actually have something that'll stay in my stomach."

She turned when she didn't feel him stand up. He was still sitting on the floor, a huge smile on his face.

"Wipe that smile off your face already. You know just because you've been winning a lot to me lately and getting your way doesn't mean that I'm gonna continue to let you win. You just wait and you'll see how things will go back to normal soon."

He stood up and took her hand in his leading her out of the room. "I can't wait my little Summer, I can't wait," before kissing her hand lightly.

* * *

"You want Olive's custody back," Katherine said like she expected it. It was a three days after their visit to the Cohen's. Summer had finally gathered up the courage to go over and talk to her Mom.

"Yes, but this isn't just about that. I wanted to say I'm sorry for all those times I've pushed you away. I know I told you a long time ago that I had forgiven you for leaving Dad and I, but I've realized that I hadn't. After a lot of time with my therapist, and a lot more time talking with Seth and also a little talk I had with his Dad, I've come to terms with everything and I just want us to start over."

Katherine looked at her surprised and taken aback, she couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Aw, baby, come here," she said and hugged her daughter. "I love you and I'm sorry, too… for everything."

"I get it, Mom. I get how you got overwhelmed with Dad and everything he was going through. It must have been hard. Believe me, I understand because sometimes I still don't get how Seth stays with me through my bad periods. I say hurtful things and I don't let him in. He's suffered so much." She took a big breath and added. "He's too good for me really."

"He loves you, and you love him just as much that's why he sticks around because he trusts you will get out of it. I wish I could have been more like him with your Dad. I did love him, Summer, I just think I wasn't strong enough. I'm not strong enough, I couldn't deal with him. I'm sorry, Summer. I've said this so many times, but I think I still can't forgive myself for leaving you. You didn't deserve it. You're a beautiful person, Summer. You have to believe that. That was the one thing your Dad couldn't do. He loved us all, but he didn't love himself," her eyes were welling up with tears.

Summer couldn't believe her ears either. Her mom was opening up to her and sharing everything she had kept in for so many years. What had surprised her the most was her saying she wasn't strong. Her mom had always struck her as the strong type. She never seemed bothered by anyone or anything. She was almost stoic. The only person who could make her laugh was Olive, and Summer remembered she used to be the one to make her smile before she had left them. She had also doubted her Mom's love for his Dad and sometimes even for her. She felt a sense of relief when she told her she did in fact loved her, and she had loved her Dad too.

"I'm putting this all behind me, and you have to do it too because that's the only way we can rebuild our relationship, Mom."

"I wanted to make it up with Olive," Katherine confessed.

"What?" Summer said sitting back on the couch.

"Me taking Olive away from you. Oh God," she said with her hand to her forehead, she was just becoming conscious of what she had done. "At first I was scared because I saw how you were neglecting her. I was just trying to protect her."

"I know you were. I don't blame you for that, but you should have trusted me when I came here to talk to you during the trial period. You could have stopped it. I had gotten help, I was back on my medicine and I knew in my heart that I loved Olive more than I could ever love someone else. I was ready to be her mother and you didn't let me. I can't even think about the day they came to take her away from me because it hurts too much. She was crying so hard when a stranger took her out of my arms to bring her here. I've missed so much of her life. It wasn't fair, it still isn't."

Summer stood up and walked to the kitchen. She felt like the tears that were streaming down her face and her sobs could choke her any minute now. Her entire body stopped functioning whenever she thought about that day. She need water, she needed something. She needed Seth. Stupid her for not letting him come with her. She had even rejected his offer to drive her, which right this moment it sounded like the best idea ever.

Her mom came behind her and saw Summer hunched over the counter and placed a hand cautiously on her shoulder. She turned and cried against her shoulder just like she did when she was a little girl.

"I'm sorry I didn't believe you at the time. I couldn't tell if you were really better or if it was just an act to try to keep Olive."

Summer released herself from her arms and looked at her hurt, "do you really think I'm that fake?"

"No, that's not it, Summer. It's just that you're so good at building up walls that I can't see through them. I probably should seeing as I am your mother."

"It's not that easy to see through them. Even Seth has a hard time with it," she said smiling slightly through her red face. When her mom explained it like that she couldn't deny it.

"You'll let me in now, will you?"

"I want to, Mom."

"Good, I'm willing to try it." She paused. "About Olive," Summer nodded, encouraging her to continue. "At first it was just about protecting her but later it turned into me trying to make up for failing with you all those years ago, with her. It sounds wrong but it felt like a second chance. That's why I became so protective with her, and I never allowed her to stay longer with you. I was so wrong and I've been thinking a lot about it lately. Especially since you talked to me the other day when I let you take her with you. I know I'm not her mom, I guess I got too attached. She even calls me Mommy…"

"I don't mind that. I have to say that it was hard when I heard her call you that for the first time, but it's just a name after all. She knows I'm her mom and you're her grandmother. You can make it up to me now, Mom. You get your second chance with me, but when it comes to Olive you have to let me be her mother. You have to let her go."

"I know I have to, but it might be difficult for her."

"Seth and I have been talking to her about the possibility of her living with us. She sounds excited. You have to talk to her so she understands it's coming from you too."

"Okay."

"Are you serious?" She said, her eyes filling up again with the overwhelming feeling washing over her.

"I mean, I don't know the legal aspect of it but I'm willing to give her to you."

"Don't worry about the legal part, Seth's dad will take care of that."

Katherine nodded.

"I can't believe this. I'm so happy," she said reaching for another hug. She was feeling surprisingly comfortable and happy with the feeling of her mom's arms around her.

"Let's talk about it some more. We need to figure out how to make the transition easier for her. You want to stay over for dinner? Olive should be waking up any minute now so we should talk before that."

"Sure, I'll stay."

* * *

Seth was walking around the house bored out of his mind. It was a Saturday and he usually spend it out with Summer all day, especially since they were doing so well lately, but as it turned out she had decided this was the perfect day to go over to her mom's house. He had wanted go with her or at least drive her. He even tried to physically lift her off the driver's seat, but she had smacked him hard when he attempted it, so he had carefully retreated to avoid any more bruises. Before she left she explained how she needed to do this on her own and kissed him goodbye to ease his worries.

She had left around three o'clock and now it was past dinner time. He had his cell phone between his hands trying not to press the send button. She had warned him not to call her because she didn't want any interruptions during her time with her mother. He was about to press the send button with the excuse of asking her something when the doorbell rang. He got up wondering who might be at his door. No one ever came to their door except for delivery and he was pretty sure he hadn't ordered anything.

He opened the door just enough to see who was behind it just to see Summer standing there which made him smile. She pushed the door completely open and stood there smiling too.

"Why are you ringing the doorbell? Did you forget your key?"

She looked at him mischievously and laughed at his perplexed face before launching her body to his. Seth was caught off guard and stumbled back when she jumped to wrap his legs around his waist and kissed him hard.

She pulled back after their long kiss and laughed again when he mumbled a "what?"

"I got her back!" she explained excitedly.

"What? Who?" He said still holding her up with his arms.

She pushed her arms at his chest. "What do you mean who? Our daughter. I got her back, she's ours," she said with just as much excitement.

"What?" He dropped her awkwardly. "What did you just say?"

"You have _got_ to stop saying what." He gave her a desperate look, so she explained quickly. "I talked to my mom. She said yes. She'll give her back to me, to us. We have to talk to your dad now about the technicalities but besides that she's ours."

He finally understood what she was saying. He loved the sound of it _she's ours._

"She's ours?" he repeated making sure he wasn't just imagining their dream coming true.

"Yes!" she beamed.

"How?" He kissed her again and lifted her up a few inches from the floor before she could answer. "You're amazing, Summer. I didn't even know you were going to ask her today. I thought you just wanted to talk to her about you two."

"I didn't tell you because I didn't want to jinx it. I had to ask her, the time felt right. We agreed on four days a week with us and three with my mom to begin with so the change won't be so abrupt. And next month will do five days a week with us. After those two months she'll stay with us permanently, and Olive can visit my mom whenever she feels like it."

He kissed her again quickly. He didn't even care that she hadn't told him about it, and the arrange sounded reasonable. He was just incredibly happy with the news.

"Can I come out now?" Olive peaked her head from behind a bunch of flowers next to the door.

"Yes, baby, I'm sorry, you can come out," Summer said to her ushering her in by placing her hand behind her head.

"Hi, princess!" Seth said picking her up quickly and then turned to Summer. "You made her hide in the bushes?" he said mocking angriness.

"I wanted to surprise you, and she got on board with the idea."

Seth smiled not being able to keep the smile off his face, and kissed Olive on the cheek. "A princess shouldn't have to hide in the bushes."

"I'm a princess?" Olive questioned happy with the sound of it.

"Of course," Seth replied.

"Yay! And that makes Mama the queen, yes?"

Summer looked at Seth waiting for his response.

"Exactly. You're a princess, your Mama is a queen and I'm the…"

"Horse!" Olive said loudly before Seth could finish his sentence.

"Horse?" Seth said offended, besides him Summer was laughing and praising Olive for coming up with the idea.

"No, Bee, I was thinking more like a King."

"No!" she said stubbornly. "Queens and princesses need horses to ride in the castle. I saw it on the books," she finished, nodding knowingly.

"Technically I don't think you can ride the horse inside the castle," he said striding from the point. "Nevermind, that's not important. I can be the King, can't I, Sum?" He said looking at Summer for reassurance.

"I think it's been decided that you're the horse, Cohen."

"Yes, Daddy, you're the horse," Olive added beaming between them.

"I can be the horse," he gave in and closed the door behind them holding Olive with one arm and Summer's hand with his other, just like he always wanted to.


End file.
